


In the Middle of Nowhere

by klarsin



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternatively titled: Fantastic Gnomes and Where to Find Them, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Stay away if you have a strong aversion to garden ornaments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-21 04:57:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9532433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klarsin/pseuds/klarsin
Summary: What do you do when you find yourself in an empty desert town where the Christmas decorations are still up?You go and find your best friend.But what do you do when you realise your best friend is hell-bent on killing you?You make new friends.





	1. Case 1: A Non-Parasitic Voice Living in His Ear

**Code: 00**

**Location: Town**

**Time: N/A**

 

_Oh I wish it could be Christmas…_

 

Tendrils of sand clouds slithered across the dusty floor, scraping against the parched ground.

Straining to stretch out his numbed limbs, Chanyeol groaned as his body shifted from its position on a large mound of dirt.

 

_…everyday…_

 

After regaining his senses, Chanyeol squinted his eyes as they adjusted to the harsh brightness of his surroundings. Once his vision had cleared, Chanyeol grimaced at the sight of an expansive desert tundra that lay before him, wherein patches of dried plants and towering cacti were scattered across the sandy emptiness.

 

_…Let the bells…_

 

Despite the stiffness in his neck, Chanyeol turned to face the area behind him while adjusting his sore body once again.

 

… _ring out…_

 

A stark contrast to their barren environment, Victorian terraced houses with their red brick walls and slanted black-tiled roofs stood in rows not too far from where Chanyeol was lying.

 

… _for Christmas._         

 

In the fenced gardens and above the solemn mahogany doors, Christmas decorations were neatly arranged: inflatable snowmen, a common sight in the American films that Chanyeol remembered watching, guarded the garden gnomes with their oddly creepy smiles; the typical multi-coloured lights glowed cheerfully, despite the light of the sun outshining them; and somewhere in the distance, a vinyl record of "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" seemed to be playing.

 

At least, Chanyeol _assumed_ it was a vinyl recording of the song, considering the grainy quality of the sound; the man hadn't actually ever seen or heard a gramophone, let alone a vinyl record.

 

Standing up turned out to be a bad choice. As he attempted to establish balance, his knees began to buckle from disuse and a searing pain shot up his spine. Undeterred, Chanyeol shook his limbs, trying to withstand the excruciating agony that accompanied his rash decision.

 

Clearing his throat, though he hadn't said a word, Chanyeol followed the sound of the music whilst brushing the dirt off of his jeans. Upon a closer look at his surroundings, he noticed that sand dusted the nook and crannies of the houses instead of the pristine white snow which seemed far more befitting of their lavishly decorated exteriors.

 

In the centre of the road, a few metres away from the perimeter of the residential area, a solitary gramophone sat. From the brass horn and the bobbing stylus, it seemed pretty obvious to Chanyeol what it was from the descriptions he had heard once before.

What was odd, however, was the bluetooth headset that randomly lay beside it.

 

After picking it up and trying it on out of curiosity, Chanyeol switched the headset on.

"Hello Chanyeol." An unfamiliar voice spoke his name. "It's about time that you woke up."

 

"Um, who's this?" Chanyeol asked, surprised by the clarity of the voice on the other side.

 

"Have you forgotten already? It's Kyungsoo." He answered monotonously, his pitch unwavering.

 

"How can I forget somebody that I don't know?" Chanyeol scoffed as he tried to adjust the band to fit the width of his head. "Anyway, since you're here - sort of - do you mind telling me where the hell I am?"

 

"You…did you hit your head on something?" Kyungsoo questioned him in a serious tone, though it lacked any concern. "You're in a simulation, remember? Sehun's trapped you here, _remember_?

 

"Emphasising ' _remember'_   won't make me ' _remember_ '." Chanyeol remarked, gesturing air quotes with his fingers. "Why would Sehun do that? He's a big ball of fluff - a bit annoying at times, but fluffy nonetheless."

 

Kyungsoo sighed, causing the sound waves to bombard Chanyeol's ears. "You say that, but he's been trying to kill-"

 

Before he could finish, lightning struck the ground in the vicinity of Chanyeol. Leading up to the man's feet, the path of the current formed blackened ribbons in the earth, from which wisps of smoke started to rise.

In the distance, wearing a displeased expression, a black haired man with a bionic right arm glared at Chanyeol. Raising his metal-frame limb, another burst of lightning emerged from the orb centred in his palm.

 

"Five steps to your left." Kyungsoo ordered tersely, which Chanyeol immediately followed. "Look ahead. Walk through that gap."

After narrowly avoiding being electrocuted, Chanyeol continued to run in the direction of a narrow alleyway between two rows of terraced house, whilst also wondering how Kyungsoo could possibly have known the geography of the area. With his back pressed against the wall, Chanyeol tried to calm his breathing in fear that Sehun might have developed enhanced hearing in addition to his robotic augments.

 

"Why is Sehun a robot?! Why is Sehun trying to kill me?!" Chanyeol hissed, the panic churning in his stomach.

 

"No time for questions. Exit the alleyway and enter the first house to your left." Kyungsoo dismissed Chanyeol's worrying, managing to stay calm despite the tense situation.

Once again, Chanyeol did as he was told. Upon reaching the other side, Chanyeol hopped over the adjacent garden fence and burst into the house, the green oak door slamming open from the force.

 

"Try to stay calm, you're making too much noise." Kyungsoo commanded, clicking his tongue at the clatter of the radiator. "Close the door. Go into the cupboard under the stairs and _stay_ there."

 

Making his way to the stairwell, Chanyeol opened the cupboard door and squeezed himself inside. Before closing himself in, he tucked his legs as close to his body as they could go, cursing his height for choosing to be detrimental to his survival at such an inappropriate time.

Although muted by the dense walls, Chanyeol could hear the sound of whirring, as if a generator was building up power before the ultimate release.

 

He hoped he was wrong, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

 

Before Chanyeol could react, the entire upper half of the building above his head was obliterated in a flash of blue light. The cut had been so clean that the wooden door separating Chanyeol from Sehun hadn't even splintered, but instead, it began to cave inwards on the man.

 

"Flop like a fish." Kyungsoo's voice was raised and Chanyeol didn't have enough time to interpret his words. Trying to mirror Kyungsoo's oddly specific description, Chanyeol flattened his body against the floor.

Luckily, the door caught itself on the protrusions of the half-destroyed shelf rack, forming an acute angle with the carpeted ground. As the slab of wood barely grazed against Chanyeol's ear, there was nothing but an eerie pause that followed.

 

Eventually, a laboured sigh cut through the abrupt silence.

" _Damn it_." Sehun muttered before all but disappearing in a distorted network of pixels.

 

Once Kyungsoo was sure that Sehun was no longer there, he informed Chanyeol, "He's gone, you can get up now."

As he attempted to push the cupboard door with his shoulder, Chanyeol had misjudged his strength and caused it to fall backwards on the floor with a low _thump_.

 

"Well done." Kyungsoo commented. Although he couldn't see him, Chanyeol knew that the man was rolling his eyes.

 

"By the way, I think you meant 'Drop on the deck'." Chanyeol spoke up, finally realising what Kyungsoo meant. "I mean, if I flopped like a fish, Sehun would've found me straightaway."

 

Kyungsoo spent a brief moment mulling over his words, before concluding that he didn't really care."…What matters is that you _didn't_ flop like a fish. I applaud your quick-thinking and ability to utilise your common sense. What an achievement indeed."

 

"Tone down on the sarcasm, Kyungsoo." Chanyeol huffed, displeased by the man's seemingly condescending attitude. "I'm not the one using pop culture references incorrectly."

 

"Oh like that matters to me." Kyungsoo bit back, a crack in his unperturbed demeanour forming. "Shouldn't you at least be thanking me for saving your life?"

 

"I would if you weren't being such an ass!" Chanyeol exclaimed, hands trembling in frustration.

 

"I was just being sarcastic! You're acting like I insulted your mother!" Kyungsoo shouted into Chanyeol's ear, clearly vexed by the man's overreaction. "It isn't difficult to say 'thank you'!"

 

" _Thank you_!" Chanyeol growled, ripping the headset off of his head before throwing it on to the floor. Turning on his heels, Chanyeol vigorously rubbed the back of his neck in irritation as he muttered unsavoury words about Kyungsoo.

 

"My God, you even throw temper tantrums like a child." Kyungsoo sneered, his voice ringing in Chanyeol's skull. Shocked, Chanyeol started groping at his crown and ears, only to find that the headset _hadn't_ magically returned to him.

 

"Get out get out get out." Chanyeol starting pounding on the side of his head, tilting it to somehow empty his skull of Kyungsoo's presence.

 

"Don't do that. You'll only damage what few brain cells you have left." Kyungsoo returned to his monotonous tone, which seemed far more scathing than it had been originally. "But even that estimate might be too generous."

 

"Oh wow! You _do_ know how to make jokes!" Chanyeol jeered, disgruntled about not being able to confront Kyungsoo face-to-face. He never thought of himself as a particularly confrontational person, but having the man's voice embedded in his brain - or so it seemed - was bringing up all sorts of emotions. Aggravating, murderous emotions.

 

"I had you penned as a _nice_ person." Kyungsoo added, "Even your face suggests that you are, but I guess appearances aren't always an accurate judge of character."

 

"You don't know me, yet you're taking jabs at my personality. Isn't that contradictory to your point?" Chanyeol asked earnestly, his anger simmering down. For some reason, details of his own personality were vague to himself, yet he still felt that Kyungsoo's sudden evaluation was unjustified.

 

Contrary to Chanyeol's expectations, Kyungsoo didn't lash out and replied collectedly, "I'm sorry. I overstepped my boundaries."

The abrupt change in tone took Chanyeol by surprise, but an apology was an apology, even if it did come from the inside of his head.

 

"…Then I guess I'm sorry too." Chanyeol muttered, swallowing his pride. "And thank you. I mean it this time, I don't think I'd be alive without you."

 

A scorching breeze weaved through Chanyeol's matted curls, powdering the strands of hair with minute particles of sand. Wiping the dirt mingled with the sweat on his forward, Chanyeol decided to explore the area, even though it seemed to just be a repeating pattern of Victorian houses.

 

"So Kyungsoo, why am I in a simulation? Why is Sehun trying to kill me? Why are _you_ here?" Chanyeol spouted the questions in rapid succession, barely giving Kyungsoo time to process his words.

 

"You're in a simulation _because_ Sehun wants to kill you." Kyungsoo began to explain, "He's a notorious hacker, jealous of your family's successful business and your father hired me to help you get out."  
 

"Okay, but that just sounds like a really shitty plot to a drama." Chanyeol laughed, kicking up a cloud of dust out of boredom. "What's next? Do you become my love interest?"

 

"Don't even joke about that." Kyungsoo deadpanned, unamused by the suggestion. "Don't be blinded by your memories of Sehun, okay?"

 

When Chanyeol shrugged in response, Kyungsoo repeated himself, " _Okay?_ "

 

"Yeah, yeah, I understand." Chanyeol said dismissively, far too engrossed with a gnome clad in a Santa Claus costume that stood in the garden of one of the houses. Picking the ornament up from the floor, Chanyeol examined the ruddy nosed figurine intently, taking in the fine details of its terracotta red suit and black boots, the bottom of which was unclosed and revealing its hollow insides.

 

"I can't believe you've found one already." Kyungsoo expressed his surprise, which somehow worried Chanyeol. "Put your hand in it."

 

Taken aback, Chanyeol's eyes widened in disbelief, wondering if the man had lost his mind, "You want _me_ to stick my arm into a garden gnome?"

 

"Yep." Kyungsoo replied bluntly, waiting patiently for Chanyeol to carry out the task. Scrunching up his nose, Chanyeol followed Kyungsoo's orders and hesitantly slipped his hand into the cavity.

 

In a matter of seconds, Chanyeol's body dematerialised just as Sehun's had. As he warped into a fading cluster of cyan blue pixels, the gnome fell from his grip and landed with a _thud_ on the sandy ground.

 

 

 

 

 

**Filename: Christmas_20181225**

**Tag: [Sehun][Chanyeol][Christmas]**

 

Underneath the Christmas tree, stacks of neatly-wrapped presents spilled on to the magnolia rug, all of which bore Sehun's name. Seated on the couch beside the heavily-decorated plant was the boy in question, who swung his legs excitedly, feet thumping against the supports of the seat.

 

"Dad, which one can I open first?" He looked at his father with an elated expression, wide smile revealing two gaps in his teeth. Sehun was giddy at the thought of opening the seemingly endless flow of gifts, joyfully bouncing on the cushions as any child would.

 

"Sehun, you need to calm down first." His dad chuckled, firmly pressing down on Sehun's shoulders to stop him from fidgeting. "You know acting like that isn't good for your heart."

 

Jutting out his bottom lip in a pout, Sehun reluctantly did as he was told, "I know, but it's Christmas!"

 

"Yes it is Christmas, but your heart doesn't know that." His dad answered his son's protests with a consoling smile, pinching the boy's cheeks to undo his frown. "You wouldn't want to go to hospital on Christmas day, would you?"

 

Shaking his head, Sehun muttered a soft "No."

The dejected expression on the boy's face tugged on the father's heartstrings, but he knew he had to firm with his son's behaviour, or else complications would start to occur.

After Sehun leant back into the seat, he began poking his fingers into the holes of his aquamarine knit jumper - a present from three Christmas' ago that he had yet to grow into - while his father went to the corridor to fetch an unknown item.

 

"Where are you go…ing…" Sehun started to ask, but the question died in his throat as his father walked back into the room.

 

With a proud smile on his face, the man introduced Sehun to the first of his Christmas presents, "Sehun, say hello to Chanyeol."

 

Examining his father's 'gift', Sehun grimaced.

 

 

 

 

**Code: 00**

**Location: Town**

**Time: N/A**

 

Chanyeol reappeared in the same spot he had left, now with a half-buried garden gnome at his feet.

"Maybe I was wrong…" Kyungsoo mumbled, the hum of his low-pitched voice echoing in Chanyeol's skull. "Sorry about that, it might have been a defective ornament."  
 

"Was I supposed to see that?" Chanyeol questioned him, slightly dazed.

 

"See what?" The man replied with another question, unsure of what Chanyeol was talking about.

 

"I saw Sehun…when he was a kid. I think it was a memory or something - was that supposed to happen?" Chanyeol described the event he had witnessed, placing a particularly strong emphasis on the look of disgust on Sehun's face.

 

"You're seriously too damn forgetful. Didn't I say to disregard those memories?" Kyungsoo piped up when Chanyeol finished outlining his recollections, which, despite being brief, seemed to have had a considerable impact on the man. It showed in Chanyeol's distraught expression, as if there was something weighing on his mind, yet he couldn't quite remember enough to voice his thoughts.

"Chanyeol, Sehun's doing this because he wants you dead. Don't let your guard down." Kyungsoo warned Chanyeol in an attempt to snap the man out of his trance.

 

"But…I think something's wrong with Sehun, he's…is he dying? What's wrong with his heart?" Chanyeol stammered, eyebrows knitted in worry.

 

"For God's sake Chanyeol, listen to me." The volume of Kyungsoo's voice jolted Chanyeol out of his anxious state. "It's. Not. Real."

 

"But you said that they're memories. Aren't memories _supposed_ to be real?" Chanyeol rebutted, sitting down on the steps of the house he had rematerialized in the vicinity of. It was becoming too much for him to handle, and it didn't help that a stranger was constantly nagging him.

 

"If you haven't noticed, you're in a simulation where your 'friend' has a bionic arm and there are Victorian houses in the middle of a desert." Kyungsoo stated, trying to show Chanyeol the absurdity of his situation in an effort to erase his doubts. "How _real_ do you think your memories actually are?"

 

"…I suppose you that you do have a point, I mean, how could my presence _possibly_ disgust anyone?" Chanyeol smirked with mock arrogance, but the haughty smile gradually faded into a look of discontent. Although he had every reason to believe Kyungsoo's words, and partnered with his own self-confidence, Chanyeol couldn't help but linger on young Sehun's expression.

Why did it feel real to him?

Why did Sehun look so unhappy to see him?

 

"Mm-hmm, yeah, totally." There was a particular comment that Kyungsoo wanted to make, but he thought that it was best to keep it to himself. After all, he liked to abide to Thumper's words. "So can you stick your hand into that gnome again for me?"

 

"Kyungsoo, _why_?" Chanyeol groaned in reluctance, unsure why of he had to violate the gnome again. "Why do you insist on making me traumatise the poor Santa gnome?"

 

"It's a clay figurine. Get over it." Kyungsoo answered stoically, ignoring Chanyeol's childish attempts to prove otherwise. "I'm still trying to find my way around this simulation, but I think this gnome is a 'key' of sorts."

 

Inspecting the garden ornament once again, Chanyeol dislodged the particles of sand residing in its crevices with a flick of his finger while Kyungsoo continued to explain, "If my guess is correct, you should be moved into a higher level of the simulation."

 

"Oh so there are levels now?" Chanyeol snorted, having already grown disinterested in his barren surroundings. "The final boss better not be you."

 

Although Kyungsoo didn't comment any further, Chanyeol still slipped his hand into the depths of the gnome's hollow insides, waiting for the landscape laden with travelling tumbleweeds and misplaced architecture to all but disappear.

 

He had hoped for a far more exciting change in scenery, but as fate would have it, Chanyeol's wishes would once again go unfulfilled.

After momentarily experiencing another blip of darkness as he had done before, albeit without the memory of Sehun, he gradually regained his sight obscured by the extensive network of shifting blue lines and squares. Instead of being bombarded by harsh rays of sunlight, a much dimmer setting greeted him.

Beneath his trainers, the dirt on which had vanished, a chalk-drawn hopscotch pattern stretched out before him on a dusty concrete floor. Not too far from where Chanyeol stood was a beady-eyed child, who scrutinised the man with his soul-piercing gaze and tight-lipped countenance. Unnerved by the boy's silence, Chanyeol remained petrified on the spot he had materialised.

 

It also didn't help that the child had the head of a goat.

 

 

 

 


	2. Case 2: Lost Boys Conjoined at the Brain

**Code: 01**

**Location: Day Care**

**Time: N/A**

 

Hidden behind a wispy veil of clouds, the crescent moon with its spherical eyes and unsettling grin stared down at the playground illuminated by its light. Had Chanyeol not been occupied with the goat-headed child, he would've most certainly cowered at the sight of the nightmarish monstrosity in the sky.

 

As the monkey bars reflected faint beams of moonlight on to the furry visage of the boy, Chanyeol's face contorted in disgust as the details of the child's appearance became clearer. It was horrifying, to say the least. His blank eyeballs seemed to roll listlessly in their sockets, while his ears twitched slightly, as if the entire head was barely alive.

 

"I…no." Chanyeol began to make a comment, but found that the words had completely left him. "No. I refuse this. I will _not,_ absolutely _not,_ deal with satanic children."

Shaking his head, Chanyeol squinted his eyes shut in hopes that the image of the hybrid boy would just disappear.

 

"Chanyeol, you really need to learn how to stay calm." Kyungsoo reproached him, punctuating his disapproval with a heavy sigh. "Sehun probably has much worse things in store for you, so I suggest that you just suck it up and deal with it."

 

"Ah fuck, it moved." Chanyeol jumped, edging backwards as the boy seemed to hobble closer. While in most cases such an action would've been intimidating, the child's movements were akin to that of a deer learning how to walk for the first time: clumsy, and perhaps even endearing.

With his head lolling side to side, the goat boy continued to move towards Chanyeol, only to trip on his shoelaces and fall flat on his face.

 

For a second, the child squirmed on the floor, while Chanyeol looked on in disbelief. Before his brain could compute what was going on, a red-haired man with a pastel pink apron appeared, mouth agape.

 

"Lucius!" He exclaimed, helping the child up to his feet. Upon a closer look, Chanyeol could read the name 'Baekhyun' on the man's name tag. "Oh dear, you need to be careful."

Lucius bleated in response after regaining his composure, before waddling off and away from the two men.

 

Turning to Chanyeol, Baekhyun stretched out his right hand with a friendly smile on his lips, "Nice to meet you, you must be the new practitioner, right? I'm Baekhyun."

 

Waving the hand away, Chanyeol's eyebrows knitted in confusion as he spoke to the man, "Err, I'm not real-"

 

"Just go along with it, Chanyeol." Kyungsoo interjected quickly.

 

"I mean, yes. Yes I am. Children are… _great_. Especially the goat-headed ones." Chanyeol confirmed his new job position unconvincingly, laughing nervously as he shook Baekhyun's hand.  "I'm Chanyeol."

Without bothering to question the man's odd introduction, Baekhyun eagerly led him to the day care centre, speaking enthusiastically about the children and other workers on the way.

 

When Baekhyun spoke of the day care centre, Chanyeol had expected to see a colourful little building brimming with happy children. Indeed, the appearance was everything he had imagined, except for one tiny insignificant detail.

 _All_ the children had animal heads.

 

Surveying the scene before him in horror, Chanyeol muttered to himself, "Oh dear Lord, I'm in hell."

 

Baekhyun's ear perked up, interested in the man's comment, "What was that?"

 

"I said, 'wow, this is swell'!" Chanyeol lied through his teeth, a massive grin on his face to hide that he was, in fact, screaming on the inside.

 

"Of course! The children are lovely, I'm sure you'll like…" Baekhyun beamed, resuming his spiel about the wonders of being a day care worker with obscure topics peppered in here and there. As Baekhyun droned on about his colleagues, Chanyeol watched the children cautiously as the pair walked into the building. Their glazed eyes stared at him with a nerve-wracking intensity, as if they would either shank him or smother him to death at any moment.

"…and that's why Jongdae refuses to wear cologne, even to this day." Baekhyun concluded his one-sided conversation, unaware that Chanyeol was on the verge of wetting himself from the fear.

 

Unable to bear it anymore, Chanyeol burst out with a question, "You do know that these children have animal heads, right?"

 

"Well…yeah." Baekhyun answered matter-of-factly. "This is a day care specialising in beast-headed children, what did you expect?"

 

Unsatisfied with the explanation, Chanyeol pressed on, "Could you give me a brief rundown on what you mean by "beast-headed children"?"

 

There had been no reply.

For a moment, the world around him became static, as if the simulation had been paused. Baekhyun's eyelids remained frozen mid-blink, while his lips were slightly parted and unmoving.

 

" _Don't question it_." Kyungsoo hissed, clearly irritated by Chanyeol's refusal to comply, "Just accept what's going on."

In an instant, Chanyeol's surroundings regained life.

 

"Well…yeah." Baekhyun repeated himself, the situation having abruptly rewound to the beginning. "This is a day care specialising in beast-headed children, what did you expect?"

 

Doing his best to shrug it off, Chanyeol smiled hesitantly, "Nothing, just testing you. Good observation skills and all that."

 

"…Uh-huh." Baekhyun nodded with a flash of incredulity on his face. As he guided Chanyeol to the room on their immediate left, they happened by two other men with equally pink aprons. One with clear-cut cheekbones had his arm slung over the shoulders of the other, who had strikingly blond hair which his companion nuzzled affectionately.

 

"Jongdae, this is the workplace. Separate yourself from me, _please_." The one being coddled sighed, expressing his disapproval by pushing Jongdae's face away. The man in question slid his arm off, raising both in a surrender.

 

With a pout, Jongdae tried to nudge in closer again, whining as his advances were rejected, "But wh~y Minseok."

 

"Yeah wh~y Minseok." Baekhyun mimicked his tone, grinning mischievously as Minseok shot him an icy glare.

 

"It's Monday morning and I don't want to deal with this right now." Minseok huffed, stepping well away from his two co-workers and towards Chanyeol. Craning his neck to make eye contact with the taller man, Minseok gave Chanyeol a welcoming smile, "You must be new here."

 

"Yes!" Chanyeol answered overzealously, still unnerved by the unfamiliar environment. "Pleasure to meet the both of you."

Amused, Minseok patted him on the shoulder, "Enough chit-chat, let's get to work." He announced, which was followed by lazy cheers of agreement from Jongdae and Baekhyun.

 

After being handed a list of tasks, which Chanyeol found rather strange considering that there was no interview or induction period to gauge his child-caring capabilities, the other three went about their ways.

Chanyeol strolled through the winding corridors of the building whilst admiring Minseok's penmanship. "They want me to get poultry feed for the chicken-headed children's lunch and that's in the east wing, so I can get - wait a minute, why do I even have to do this?"

 

"You might find another 'key' on the way." Kyungsoo stated, the sudden sound of his voice surprising Chanyeol, even though he had been the one to initiate the conversation. "Keep an eye out."

 

"For what? Another gnome?" Chanyeol snorted with laughter. While Kyungsoo defended the importance of the gnomes, Chanyeol turned a corner into another hallway, at the end of which was an oak door clearly labelled with the words 'Pantry - Poultry'. "Is that where the poultry feed is?"

 

"You're a genius!" Kyungsoo gasped, the condescension dripping from his words, "Why, I don't think I would _ever_ have figured that out."

 

"Aww, thanks." Chanyeol said with feigned bashfulness, refusing to let Kyungsoo have his fun. "Someday, you might reach my level."

 

"Unfortunately, that would mean a decline in my standards." Kyungsoo sneered, his contempt echoing in Chanyeol's skull.

Choosing to ignore his guide, Chanyeol swung open the pantry door to reveal several neatly marked cabinets fastened on the walls and brown sacks of feed arranged on the floor. After briefly inspecting one sack, Chanyeol hauled it over his shoulder, groaning when he realised that it was unbelievably heavy.

 

Unable to keep his grip on the feed bag, it slipped out of his hands and fell to the floor, spilling its contents over the marble tiles. As the feed scattered, a gnome rolled out from the depths of the sack, its bright red clay suit contrasting with the dull yellow pellets lying beneath.

 

"Before you say anything, I need to actually know your plan for my escape." Chanyeol asked, picking up the ruddy nosed figurine as he did. "You can't just expect me to _accept_ whatever's thrown my way without an explanation."

 

"Fine, I suppose you deserve one." Kyungsoo agreed, "In short, there are 'cracks' in the simulation which I can exploit. If you move through these 'cracks', we'll be able to destabilise and shut down the system that's trapping your conscious here. It's sort of like hacking away at the weakest link of a chain."

 

"Thanks for telling me that but I was actually hoping for an explanation on the gnomes." Chanyeol said, emphasising his point by tapping the bulbous nose of the figurine.

 

"I programmed _something_ to be a marker for the weaknesses in the simulation, to act as a 'key', and they just happened to be gnomes." Kyungsoo continued in his level tone. "The problem is, I can't control what happens when you interact with these 'cracks' because this is still Sehun's simulation after all, which is probably why you saw that memory."

 

"Do you think Sehun knows that you're doing this?" Chanyeol responded with another question, interest piqued.

 

"…No." Kyungsoo answered, the brief moment of hesitation disregarded by Chanyeol. "If he did, I would've been shut out immediately."

 

Just as the man had finished talking, Chanyeol launched in once again, "Last question, is Sehun on drugs or something? Why are there children with animal heads? Why does the simulation rewind when I don't 'accept it'."

 

"That's three questions, Chanyeol." Kyungsoo chuckled wryly, "I'm no mind reader, so I don't know what's going on in Sehun's mind, and the only explanation I can give for your last question is that there is a limited amount of in-world information provided by the simulation. You can ask a question, but there won't always be an answer because there _isn't_ one."

 

With brows knitted in thought, Chanyeol offered an idea, "Surely we can just exploit that? We could make the entire system short-circuit by, I don't know, making it repeat the same scenarios over and over again."

 

"Do you know why I keep telling you to not question what's happening?" Kyungsoo spoke with a hint of irritation, "It's _precisely_ because of your suggestion. We want to shut down the system so you can escape safely, not corrupt it and risk losing you in the simulation all together."

 

"Oh." Chanyeol muttered softly, his voice barely audible to Kyungsoo.

 

"So could you-"

 

"Stick my hand in the gnome, yeah, yeah, I got that." Chanyeol said dismissively, accepting his fate with resignation.

 

 

**Filename: Diag_20190414**

**Tag: [Sehun][Chanyeol][Hospital]**

 

A thin strand of light broke through the still darkness of Sehun's hospital room, the origin of which was the narrow crack of a carelessly "closed" door that separated the boy from the outside world.

With his head rested on an elevated pillow, Sehun stared blankly at the adjacent window, its thick navy curtains obscuring the bustling Seoul city skyline. Faint murmurs of another lively night could be heard, filling the cold silence of the room with a glimmer of energy.

 

Sehun closed his weary eyes slowly, letting the noise wash over him and his tired body.

On the other side of the door, a snapshot of a different world unfurled, one where familiar and unfamiliar voices spoke hushed and sombre toned.

 

"Other than congenital heart disease, we've come across another condition, albeit unknown, related to his heart…"

 

The boy shifted from his position, the pain in his chest exacerbated by the movement of his ribs. He winced, but far worse afflictions had practically made him immune to mild discomfort.

 

"…Reduced blood flow…paralysis of limbs…"

 

Beside his bed was Chanyeol, who looked on in silence. With his eyes transfixed on his companion, Sehun's lips were pressed in a line, an unreadable expression worn on his face.

 

"…It would be a miracle if he lives beyond twenty."

 

As the conversation concluded, the door creaked open, followed by the entrance of a paediatrician, who greeted Sehun with an amiable smile. Frowning at the absence of light, he flicked on the switch, allowing the moody darkness to be engulfed in a warm glow.

 

"Hi there Sehun, I'm Dr. Byun Baekhyun." The doctor walked up to the side of the boy's bed, patting his hand reassuringly. "I'm just here to tell you that you'll be staying the night here, are you okay with that?"

 

Sehun did poorly to hide his discontent, frowning while he focused his gaze on the hand on his own.

 

"You'll have your friend over there to keep you company, and I'll drop by every now and again so you don't get too lonely." Baekhyun addressed Chanyeol with his cheeks pushed up into a comforting smile, which Sehun inwardly sneered at.

 

"Where's my dad?" Sehun muttered, voice hoarse and trickling over cracked lips. "Why can't I go home with my dad?"

 

"Sehun, your dad wants you to rest here." Baekhyun said in a sympathetic tone, tilting his head slightly as he often did when addressing children. "He can't visit you right now, but he'll come tomorrow."

 

"He's working, isn't he? He's too busy to see me, _isn't he_?" Sehun seethed through gritted teeth, tone laced with venom.

 

Shaking his head fervently, Baekhyun placed a hand on Sehun's shoulder, which the boy immediately shrugged off, "Mr. Oh really did want to see you, in fact, he's left you a few gifts for the night." Baekhyun quickly changed topics, not wanting to invoke Sehun's anger. "I'll go get them for you."

 

As Baekhyun left the room, Sehun snapped his head towards Chanyeol, eyes ablaze with fury,

"This is your fault. He isn't here again because of _you_." Sehun snarled, face contorted in a burning rage.

 

" _I hate you_."

 

 

 

**Code: 01**

**Location: Day Care**

**Time: N/A**

 

 

When the image of the day care centre appeared before him again, Chanyeol felt tears forming, the stinging sensation pricking at his eyes.

" _Shit_." Kyungsoo cursed, and judging by the sharp breath that followed, Chanyeol knew that he wasn't meant to hear that. "What did you see?"

 

"I-I saw Baekhyun in a hospital with Sehun." Chanyeol uttered, voice croaking as he dried the tears with his sleeve. "It can't be real then, can it? Baekhyun's part of the simulation…it's not real. It's not real."

 

"…Good, you're learning." Kyungsoo affirmed, a kindness to his voice which mildly shocked Chanyeol. Unlike the first memory, the second one hadn't caused as much emotional turmoil, even though Sehun's harsh words had been permanently ingrained in Chanyeol's mind. "Grab another bag, the chicken-headed children must be hungry."

 

After dragging the feed sack across the floor, Chanyeol eventually managed to bring the food to the children, albeit with great difficulty. As soon as he entered the room labelled "Chickens", the boys and girls with their assortment of feathered heads flocked to him in an instant.

Before he could even open the sack, they had already ripped it open with their beaks and started feasting on the pellets.

 

Jongdae passed by, giving Chanyeol a thumbs up upon seeing the children happily eating their food.

"Good job! By the way, the manager wants to see you in his office." Jongdae informed Chanyeol, gesturing him to follow.

 

Glancing one last time at the children with a confusing mix of pride and disgust, Chanyeol trailed behind Jongdae, who had began to bring up an odd mix of topics, most of which included Minseok. Chanyeol chalked it up to the 'limited in-world information' Kyungsoo talked about, but the affection Jongdae had for Minseok felt genuine, even though Chanyeol didn't really have anything to compare it to.

 

In a matter of minutes, the pair arrived at modest oak door adorned with a golden plaque embossed with the word 'Manager'. After Jongdae left, Chanyeol knocked on the door, opening it slightly to poke his head in.

 

"Hel…lo? Oh crap." Just as Chanyeol said his greetings, a hand pulled him in by the collar. After being forced into the room, Chanyeol found himself face-to-face with Sehun, the tips of their nose almost brushing against each other.

 

" _Found you_." Sehun growled, his hostile eyes piercing Chanyeol's. Raising his bionic right arm, Sehun held the blue orb embedded in his palm to Chanyeol's cheek, the whirring sound vibrating in the ensnared man's skull. Chanyeol's vision was obscured by a bright blue glare, distracting him from the danger at hand.

 

"Bend your knee and push it upwards diagonally." Kyungsoo hastily instructed, breaking Chanyeol out of his dazed state. Chanyeol slid his arms underneath Sehun's and clutched on to his waist as he delivered a swift blow to his stomach.

 

Still holding on to Chanyeol's collar, Sehun lurched backwards, pulling the man along with him. Chanyeol collided with Sehun, the momentum knocking both of them to the floor.

"Keep that orb as far from you as possible, it's going to release a surge of energy soon." Kyungsoo advised while Chanyeol straddled Sehun, whose right arm was stretched outwards and pressed into the carpeted floor by both of the Chanyeol's hands. Lacking the necessary strength to restrain the metal-frame, Chanyeol's grasp on the limb was broken with ease..

 

Swerving his arm, Sehun aimed the palm of his hand at Chanyeol's face while still lying on the ground, his jet black hair in a disarray.

"Why don't you talk to me, Sehun?" Chanyeol shouted over the noise, seizing the man's wrist and thrusting it away from himself.

 

"Why? You’re going to die anyway." He said with disdain, the curl of his lips reminding Chanyeol of the memories he had seen.

The hum of the generator in Sehun's arm grew louder, turning into a deafening sound that reverberated in the air around the two.

 

Unsure of what else he could do, Chanyeol pinched Sehun's cheek as hard as he could, resulting in a shocked cry of protest from the man, "Hey!"

"Stop being a stubborn asshole and _talk_ to me, for goodness sake." Chanyeol spoke indignantly, displeased with the attitude Sehun had been giving him, both inside the simulation and in his 'memories'.

 

"Chanyeol, reasoning with him is useless." Kyungsoo interrupted, the clarity of his voice becoming a reassurance in the disorientating buzz of the machinery. "Punch him in the jaw and run."

 

Chanyeol had never considered himself to be a violent person, but after being subject to Sehun's scathing glare and adamance against a reasonable discussion, he found no reason to disagree with Kyungsoo. Leaving no time for another response, Chanyeol slammed his fist into the line of Sehun's jaw, leaving him with sore knuckles and Sehun with a growing bruise.

 

With the shorter man momentarily stunned, Chanyeol launched himself off of Sehun and ran out of the office, almost flattening a bewildered Baekhyun on his way.

"Go find the gnome!" Kyungsoo commanded in his ear, drowning out the sound of pulsating blood in his head.

 

Upon reaching the pantry, Chanyeol hurriedly picked up the garden ornament, preparing to slide his arm inside. Just as he did, a familiar burst of light surrounded him, almost blinding him with its stark brightness.

As the world around him faded in a cluster of cyan pixels, Chanyeol remained long enough to watch the destruction unfold around him. Debris turned to fragments, which shattered into minuscule particles that were soon engulfed in the brilliant white that encapsulated Chanyeol.

 

At that moment, it wasn't the fear that struck Chanyeol, but the feeling that he had lost a friend. For vague reasons which Chanyeol was still unwilling to accept, the original perception he had of Sehun seemed so contradictory to the one that lived and breathed in his memories.

Chanyeol couldn't even remember what made him so fond of the man in the first place, yet the emotions lingered, like a baseless affection.

 

 

**Filename: Diag_20190414**

**Tag: [Sehun][Chanyeol][Hospital]**

 

 

Sprawled across Sehun's bed was a variety of board games and picture books, all of which he deemed himself far too old to be playing with. Beside him, on the other hand, were two male nurses, who were enthralled by the picture books, which they urged Sehun to flick through.

 

"Jongdae, pass that one to me." One of the nurses pointed to a hardback with silver writing on the spine, where an image of a crescent moon was debossed.

 

"Ah but Minseok, I wanted to read it." Jongdae pouted, holding the leather bound book firmly in his hands. Rolling his eyes, Minseok reluctantly agreed, which his colleague returned with a wide toothy grin. "Thanks! Right then…'The Night the Animals Came out to Play'."

 

While Jongdae enthusiastically read the story aloud, Sehun leaned further back into his pillow, absentmindedly thumbing the nose of a Rilakkuma while glancing every now and again at Chanyeol.

 

" _Aww_ look at this!" Jongdae spun the book around to show Sehun one of the illustrations. It was a little girl wearing a bunny mask, her pinafore a cross-hatched fabric in black and white; above her head was a smiling moon, which Sehun found unintentionally sinister. Then again, he wasn't particularly fond of anthromorphism.

 

As Jongdae continued to read, he would make the occasional comment about the outstanding quality of the images, but upon reaching one certain page, the nurse burst out with laughter.  
 

"Dae, show me." Minseok edged closer, peering over Jongdae's shoulder to take a look. "It's a colour picture, what's so funny about it?"

 

"The flying squirrel boy has red hair, how is that _not_ funny?" Jongdae guffawed. His laughter began to reach an unbearable level of obnoxiousness, leading Minseok to pry the book out of his hands. "Reminds me of the time Baekhyun dyed his hair red."

 

"Dr. Byun? He used to have red hair?" Sehun asked with genuine surprise. In the boy's eyes, the doctor had seemedfar too straight-laced to ever attempt anything more serious than littering.

 

"Oh yeah, the three of us used to be in a band during our university days together." Minseok responded, a wave of nostalgia washing him over as he smiled tenderly. "My hair was bleached blond back then, which, if I recall correctly, was all Jongdae's fault."

 

Snickering, Jongdae remarked with a smirk, "You really shouldn't have trusted me with the hair dye."

 

"I didn't 'trust' you with anything! You took it from Baekhyun's stash and used it on my hair when I was dru- ahem, I mean, sleeping." Minseok said in defence, a disapproving glare aimed at his amused co-worker.

 

As the pair discussed their school days together, Sehun joined in with their laughter, his spirits having gradually lifted in the presence of the nurses. It didn't take long for the boy to start sharing his own anecdotes, his eyes forming half moons while his cheeks ached from the prolonged smiling.

 

Quietly but surely, Chanyeol watched the boy, the image of his warm smile etched in his memories.

 


	3. Case 3: A Multifunctional Steel Cube for a Heart

**Code: 02**

**Location: Factory**

**Time: N/A**

 

Steam rose from the metal grate underneath Chanyeol's feet, circling him in a cloud of warm mist. On either side of him, an intricate network of steel pipes weaved across the walls, resembling that of a nest of snakes. Heat emanated from within the metalwork, accompanied by the sound of rushing water that echoed in the narrow corridor enclosed by two doors, both of which were shut tight.

As Chanyeol cautiously walked over to one of the doors, he caught sight of his reflection in the sheen of the polished steel. He hadn't realised how out of place his appearance was, with his scuffed jeans and wrinkled white t-shirt, it felt almost jarring to see the contrast with his rigid surroundings.

 

"From what I can tell, you're in a factory." Kyungsoo informed him. Chanyeol contemplated whether or not he should tell the man about his most recent memory, but quickly decided against it, seeing as it seemed harmless enough.

  
"Okay... so what now?" Chanyeol asked, knocking on the steel door with his knuckles. Surprisingly, it swung open, followed by a gust of icy wind that left Chanyeol partially dazed. The cold ran over his bare arms, causing the skin to roughen from the emerging goosebumps.

 

"Exploring the area would be your best bet, unless you want to stay here and freeze." Kyungsoo responded. Having no other choice, Chanyeol chose to explore.

As he stepped out of the corridor, Chanyeol was met with a cavernous room filled with rows of machinery, all of which looked like poorly constructed replicas of mechas from a Japanese anime. The heads of their humanoid bodies were lopsided and crudely painted; the one closest to Chanyeol had horrifically uneven arms, with one grazing against the floor and the other looking more like an extension of its collarbone than a limb.

 

"I won't lie, these look like crappy drawings of Evangelions come to life" Chanyeol remarked, placing a hand on the metal leg of a nearby machine.

 

"Hmm, I'd say they look more like the Kataphrakts from Aldnoah.Zero." Kyungsoo chimed in, surprising Chanyeol with his uncharacteristic display of interest.

 

Grinning, Chanyeol inwardly laughed at the thought of the man in his head watching anime, "Heh, nerd."

 

"Oh _you_ can talk." Kyungsoo bit back, peeved at Chanyeol's mocking expression, "Don't call me a nerd when you're a One Piece fanboy."

 

"Wh- How did you know that?!" Chanyeol exclaimed in surprise, suddenly afraid that Kyungsoo could read his thoughts as well.

 

Bursting out into laughter, which Chanyeol couldn't help but think was rather pleasant-sounding, Kyungsoo spoke in an amused tone, "The logo's on the back of your shirt, idiot."

After hearing the unexpected revelation , Chanyeol immediately spun around to observe his image in the mecha's leg. In clear black and white, the logo with its Japanese writing and skull and crossbones was reflected back at him.

For a good minute, Chanyeol stood there smiling in admiration, praising his good sense of fashion.

 

Kyungsoo's laughter continued to ring in his head, although Chanyeol couldn't quite tell whether he was laughing _with_ him or _at_ him.

"Do you like One Piece too?" Chanyeol threw the question with uninhibited enthusiasm, practically giddy at the thought of having a common interest with the stranger in his skull.

 

"Nah, I'm a fan of more recent anime, y'know, those popular intergalactic sport ones that are being released nowadays." Kyungsoo's tone became much more relaxed than what Chanyeol had grown accustomed to, but he wasn't going to complain about it. "I used to like Prince of Tennis, that _really_ old show."

 

"And you call me a nerd." Chanyeol snorted, searching his memory for the series Kyungsoo had spoken about. "I bet that you're the type to cry at the sad scenes as well."

 

"Am not." Kyungsoo huffed, his denial coming off too strongly and not as nonchalant as he had intended.

 

Raising an eyebrow, Chanyeol decided against being the better person and further teased Kyungsoo in delight, "Pfft, you're a pretty bad liar."  
 

"Fine, I admit that I cried _once_." Kyungsoo confessed in a vexed tone, which Chanyeol found more than entertaining.  "But that final match between Yukimura and Echizen was intense, okay?"

 

"Whatever you say~" Chanyeol said dismissively, guffawing as Kyungsoo started, but failed, to vehemently defend himself with excuses.

The two continued to discuss anime, which somehow moved on to music then to favourite foods, as well as an assortment of other topics, leading Chanyeol to forget about the cold nipping at his skin.

He decided to sit down by the foot of the mecha, resting his back against the cool metal as he conversed with Kyungsoo. From an outsider's point of view, Chanyeol would've looked insane talking to himself, but luckily, there was no one around to judge him.

 

Except for one.

 

The sound of footsteps cut through the still air, the echo of the metal resounding around Chanyeol and halting his conversation with Kyungsoo.

"Who's there?" A voice called out and though it didn't sound hostile, Chanyeol's muscles instantly tensed from the unease.

The man curled into a ball, squeezing his legs uncomfortably close to his torso while he held his breath, waiting for the stranger to pass.

 

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

 

Hairs on the back of his neck stiffened and he could feel the blood pounding in his ears.

"Chanyeol, I don't think-" Kyungsoo began to speak, but was immediately cut short by a loud bang, as if a heavy object had just fallen to the floor.

 

In the corner of Chanyeol's eye, he could see a torch rolling towards him, the spinning of its light splitting the frigid darkness. It eventually stopped a metre away from Chanyeol, creating an elongated shadow of himself on the adjacent wall.

 

Whilst Chanyeol simply stared at his silhouette with a look of pure terror on his face, a hand suddenly touched his shoulder, causing him to jolt backwards and hit his head on the metal body of the machine.

 

"Oh! Sorry about that, didn't mean to scare you." The stranger, surprisingly enough, was _not_ the serial killer Chanyeol had imagined him to be. As the man offered his hand, Chanyeol's worries melted into the cold air as he gladly accepted the stranger's help.

 

"I'm Yixing, an engineer here. Are you perhaps the new recruit?" He introduced himself with a slight accent, a dimple forming on his cheek as he smiled at Chanyeol. "You can probably tell by my name that I'm not from around here."

 

"Yep, I'm the new recruit." Chanyeol answered, satisfied that he was finally getting with the flow of things, which Kyungsoo praised with a curt "Good". "My name's Chanyeol, and… _oww_."

The pain had finally caught up to him, and from what Chanyeol could feel with his fingers, a sizeable bump was forming on his head. Luckily, resulting brain damage would have been practically impossible, but Chanyeol found little comfort in that knowledge.

 

"Let me see…" Yixing placed a hand on both sides of Chanyeol's head, pulling it down towards him to inspect the damage. It didn't help that their heights were polar opposites.

As the engineer prodded around, parting tufts of hair gently, Chanyeol wondered what was the point when Yixing wasn't even a medic.

 

"I think that's enough-" Chanyeol pulled away, hearing Kyungsoo's faint snickering in his ear. "I appreciate your concern, but it isn't that bad."

 

"Really?" Yixing uttered blankly, oblivious to Chanyeol's discomfort. "Your hair's super fluffy by the way. Reminds me of a wet poodle. Or a chicken. Chicken's are fluffy, right?"

 

Unsure of whether or not that was a serious compliment, Chanyeol simply nodded slowly in response, the confusion poorly hidden on his face, "…Yes?"

 

"Cool, it's not just me then." Yixing gave him a thumbs up, then proceeded to embark on a tour which Chanyeol neither mentioned nor asked for. Silently following Yixing out of the gigantic room, Chanyeol's attention shifted from machine to machine, scrunching his nose at their amateurish designs while his guide droned on about various topics.

 

"Chanyeol are you even paying attention?" Kyungsoo asked the man, breaking him out of his trance. "Yixing could be saying something important."

 

"Kyungsoo I just heard him talk about what he had for dinner last night, I don't think what he's saying is _that_ important." Chanyeol whispered, glancing at Yixing, who had somehow moved on to discussing psychology. "Seriously, why does everyone speak like this?"  
 

"Blame Sehun, he coded this entire thing." Kyungsoo muttered, a certain edge to his voice. "He's always been a recluse, I'm sure human interactions aren't his strong point."

 

Furrowing his eyebrows, Chanyeol frowned at the man's words. There wasn't anything he could say - or remember - to refute Kyungsoo, but it was simply gut instinct that made Chanyeol doubt his supposed saviour.

It was conflicting, to say the least. Chanyeol had admittedly grown rather fond of Kyungsoo, even though he would've much preferred to have his skull unoccupied by him. What reason was there to _not_ believe the man who was only trying to save his life?

 

As Chanyeol continued to trail behind Yixing, he noticed grey pixels floating above the engineer's head, turning into static that stretched across the walls and ceilings.

 

Eventually, everything around him was consumed by the monochrome buzz.

 

Chanyeol could tell Kyungsoo was trying to talk to him, but all he could hear were short clips of his voice, cut short by the white noise.

 

In a sudden blip, the world turned to black, as if it had been abruptly switched off.

 

 

 

**Filename: Test_Run_#5_20230816**

**Tag: [Chanyeol][Work][Changsha_China]**

 

Tubes ran from Chanyeol's arm, a thick red liquid rushing inside the plastic casing to some unknown reservoir. A strong metallic smell lingered in the air, almost palpable with its overwhelming presence that even slipped through Chanyeol's lips. The taste was horrible.

 

"He's awake, Mr. Oh." A man's voice, smooth and slightly accented, resounded beside Chanyeol.

 

"Good work, Yixing." Sehun's father praised the man in question, shaking his hand firmly. "You can rest now, I'll see you tomorrow."

 

After bowing deeply, Yixing left the small room, the door shutting softly beside him. Tilting his head to better observe his surroundings, Chanyeol noticed several steel boxes stacked around him with numerous wires weaving in and out; some had screens displaying graphs, while others simply had an array of buttons with indecipherable labels.

 

As he stretched his stiff fingers, Chanyeol could feel a viscous substance pooled around him. Upon inspection, he found that it was the same colour as the substance entering - or exiting - his body. Frightened, Chanyeol opened his mouth to cry out for help, but was hushed by Mr. Oh.

 

The man placed a hand on Chanyeol's forehead, a comforting smile on his lips, "Don't worry, Chanyeol. You're safe." When Chanyeol continued to look at him with wide eyes, Sehun's father frowned, "You remember me, right?"

 

"S…Se…hun?" Chanyeol croaked in response, his mind as blurred as his vision. Squinting, the image of the man became clearer to him. "…fath…er?"

 

Mr. Oh's eyes softened, brimming with a warmth that consoled Chanyeol in his dazed state, "Yes, I suppose I am."

 

Relieved by his words, Chanyeol relaxed, ignoring the soreness in his limbs and the aching in his head. Despite the cold metal underneath his back, a feeling of joy overcame him, embracing his heart ever so gently. It felt as if it was beating for the first time.

 

While Chanyeol continued to rest, Mr. Oh went about attending the various contraptions, occasionally scrawling on a clipboard in haste. After a few minutes, he fished his mobile phone out of his pocket and began to call someone.

 

"Hello? Sehun?" Mr. Oh spoke, the faint murmur of his son's response piquing Chanyeol's interest. "Yeah, I'm returning to Korea after two days…I have a surprise for you."

 

Absentmindedly flicking through his notes, the father kept his back to Chanyeol, who watched him intently, "How's school? Have you been taking your medicine? Remember what Dr. Byun said about your condition-"

 

The conversation carried on, lulling Chanyeol into a light nap.

"-I promise I'll be back in time for your operation, just hang on until then, okay?" Mr. Oh concluded the exchange with a promise of bubble tea and new clothes. As he turned around, he suddenly froze at the sight of Chanyeol's motionless body.

 

"Chanyeol? Chanyeol!" Mr. Oh hurriedly tried to shake him awake, but immediately stopped when Chanyeol started mumbling incoherently in response.

 

With his eyes fluttering open, Chanyeol patted the panicked man's hand, "Ah, I fell asleep. Sorry about that." His voice was clear, deep and resonating, and the very sound of it melted the father's worries away. "Can't wait to see Sehun again."

 

"He said the same thing about you." Mr. Oh laughed, tears forming in his eyes. Chanyeol couldn't tell whether those were tears of sadness or joy, yet he refrained from asking, feeling that it was too sensitive a topic to touch upon.

 

However, Chanyeol couldn't help but wonder if those tears were for Sehun or for him.

 

 

**Code: 02**

**Location: Factory**

**Time: N/A**

 

The factory reformed around Chanyeol, starting moments after where the scenario had left off. In a matter of seconds, Yixing was in front of him again, the one-sided conversation having moved on to the importance of pasta pots in tennis.

They were walking on a narrow platform, which was surrounded by a vast cave twelve times the size of the gargantuan room that Chanyeol had just left.

Their footsteps echoed around them, fading into a low ring that bounced off the stony walls; rows of fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling, shining on the expanse of water beneath the pair. Despite the relatively bright lighting, the colour of the liquid remained a murky black, unnerving Chanyeol with its sheer sense of foreboding.

 

"Don't hate me for this." Kyungsoo's voice cropped up out of nowhere, almost giving Chanyeol a heart attack. "But there's…actually, you know what? I'll let you see for yourself."

 

On cue, the surface of the water raised into a mound, which instantly broke as whatever lurked in the liquid slowly emerged. After its head came into view, Chanyeol rolled his eyes and sighed deeply, finally having lost the will to live.

 

"You have _got_ to be kidding me." Chanyeol groaned, fixed on the spot as Yixing wandered off without him. Cherry-cheeked and abound with merry thoughts, a giant Santa gnome greeted him, the perpetual ear-to-ear smile on its face having become a common sight to Chanyeol. However, instead of the rounded edges of its usual terracotta body, the gnome was, in fact, a mecha; complete with a titanium red suit and a metallic gleam, the garden ornament was now a fully fledged robot.

 

"Kyungsoo, I don't want to do this. I really _really_ don't want to this." Chanyeol whined, backing away from the monstrosity before him.

 

Without missing a beat, Kyungsoo replied, "Get in the fucking robot, Chanyeol."

 

"I knew you'd say that, you nerd." Chanyeol said, shaking his head at the man's attempt at making more references.

 

"Jesus Christ, stop saying that I'm a nerd." Kyungsoo snapped, though his amusement was difficult to conceal despite his irritation. "It's like the pot calling the kettle black."

Having no decent rebuttal, Chanyeol shut his mouth and focused on the frighteningly large machine that grinned menacingly down at him. Though he _thought_ it was menacing, there was nothing particularly malicious about the gnome's expression, but Chanyeol just wanted to feel that his fear was validated.

 

Eventually throwing his hands up in resignation, Chanyeol gave in and accepted the situation, "Before I do what I ultimately have to do, the world blacked out for a minute there, care to explain?"

 

"Oh…I think Sehun must've interfered with the simulation, or something like that. Don't worry about it, it's probably a minor issue." Kyungsoo answered after a brief moment of deliberation, which didn't go unnoticed by Chanyeol.

 

"…Right. Minor issue." Chanyeol repeated with scepticism. "Well I don't know any better, so let's do this."  
 

From the water rose a metal platform, under which a framework of beams and struts acted as its supports. It eventually positioned itself perpendicular to the catwalk on which Chanyeol stood, forming a connection between the man and the machine.

Taking a deep breath, Chanyeol made his way to the mecha, bracing himself for the entrance into the unknown. Funnily enough, Chanyeol had often daydreamed about being thrown into such situations and emerging as the victorious hero, but at that moment, all he wanted to do was run away. Not because he was a coward, or so he liked to tell himself, but purely because of the prospect that a garden ornament was the key to his survival. Chanyeol had a _little_ more pride than that.

 

As the gnome's head split open - a macabre sight which Chanyeol would never have imagined witnessing - a single, solitary seat was revealed before him, waiting for the man in silence.

"I'm guessing that if I sit hhere, then _bam_. Next level reached." Chanyeol said as he sat on the slightly reclined chair, which was jet black in colour and admittedly very comfortable.

 

"Not quite." Kyungsoo answered bluntly. Whilst the face of the robot closed again, Chanyeol shifted in his seat, surveying the array of controls that surrounded him as he waited for the rest of the man's response. "Sorry about this."

 

Before Chanyeol could comprehend Kyungsoo's words, several wires snaked out of the crevices in the control panel and from underneath the chair. An immense pain shot through Chanyeol's body as each wire pierced his skin, sending bursts of electricity into his flesh.

With his hands clenched tightly on the arm rests, Chanyeol's limbs jerked as he tried to withstand the rhythmic sequence of shocks; though he didn't know what the voltage was, it felt as if the pain was disproportionately stronger than the power.

After several seconds of Chanyeol writhing in his seat, the buzz of the electricity died down, leaving the man collapsed on the chair in an unconscious state.

 

"Then again, I don't expect you to forgive me." Kyungsoo muttered, his voice dying in the static that consumed the simulation once more.

 

 

**Filename: Sehun_#5677_20230820**

**Tag: [Sehun][Chanyeol][Memory]**

 

 

From above the television set, a monitor blinked with the temperature and a symbol of a fan. With a wave of his hand, Sehun activated the air-conditioning, leaving the monitor to promptly switch off as a low hum started to reverberate around the room.

 

Lazily lounged on the couch, Sehun sucked on a lollipop while scrolling through his phone. Opposite the white sectional sofa on which the boy lay, a panoramic metal-framed window opened up the view of Seoul to the inside of the flat. Light streamed in to the living room, tinting the pristine white walls with a peachy hue.

 

"Sehun?" Chanyeol said hesitantly, slowly opening the door to his bedroom. Upon hearing Chanyeol's voice, Sehun sat up immediately, taking the lollipop out of his mouth with a _pop_. "What are you doing?"

 

Sehun's shoulders tensed at the sight of Chanyeol, the frown on his face sending a clear signal to the boy. Shifting uncomfortably on the spot, Chanyeol eventually withdrew back into the room without another word.

 

As he began to shut the door, Sehun caught sight of the dejected expression amidst the shadows of Chanyeol's face. Once the click of the handle ended their brief exchange, a long, heavy silence followed, only alleviated by the hum of the AC.

 

Still sat up and faced in the direction of Chanyeol's bedroom, Sehun stayed motionless in thought, eyebrows furrowed while he reconsidered his actions. For a minute or so, he chose to do nothing, letting the notifications of his friends' messages remain as vibrations of a phone firmly gripped in his hand.

The image of the down-hearted look on Chanyeol's face began to eat away at him, only for the guilt to be finally expressed as a deep sigh. Setting down his phone, Sehun walked over to the door and rapped on the polished wood.

 

"Oi come out, let's do something together. I'm bored." Sehun called out, doing his best to sound enthusiastic about spending time together with Chanyeol. When there was no response, Sehun tutted and tapped his foot impatiently, making sure it was loud enough for the boy to hear. "If you don't come out, I'll just go by mys-"

 

Chanyeol burst through the door, an elated smile on his lips as he met Sehun's eyes. "Really? You want to play with me?"

 

"Pfft, 'play'? What am I, five?" Sehun sneered, moving back into the centre of the living room to flop on the sofa, the stretch of the leather squeaking underneath him.

 

"No, you're fourteen, which I suppose is pretty close." Chanyeol responded matter-of-factly as he joined Sehun's side.

 

Sehun narrowed his eyes, offended by the unintentional - or intentional, he wasn't sure - insult. "Oh wow! You _do_ know how to make jokes!" The boy sneered, elbowing Chanyeol in the ribs. Unfazed, Chanyeol simply grinned, oblivious to Sehun's sarcasm.

 

Rolling his eyes, Sehun leant over to pick up his phone. After a few taps on the screen, he shoved it into Chanyeol's hands without another word and reclined back into the seat, tilting his head to better observe the bewildered boy.

Soon enough, Chanyeol was scrolling through the contents using his thumb, brows knitted and tongue poking out in concentration. When a minute went by with no response, Sehun shook his head and snatched the device back.

 

"Geez, all you had to do was pick a game." Sehun muttered, tapping on a random icon. It was a small image of a robot with Japanese text behind it.

Pointing the phone towards the television, the game started up on the wide screen, accompanied by a blare of music which took Chanyeol by surprise, causing him to jump in his seat. Sehun breathed out a laugh, but stopped immediately when Chanyeol's grin returned.

 

"It's based on that super old anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion. We can watch that after this, if you want." Sehun suggested, which Chanyeol replied with an eager nod. "The controllers are beside you, pass me one."

Doing as he was told, Chanyeol picked up the two small black disks on the end table. After Chanyeol gave him a controller, Sehun pressed on the disk with the pad of his thumb - an action which the other boy mimicked - leading it to elongate sideways into a long oval with virtual analog sticks on both ends.

 

It didn't take long for Chanyeol to adjust to the controls. Fifteen minutes in and he had already obliterated Sehun's mecha three times in a row, leaving his opponent trembling in rage. As Sehun threw the controller down in anger, Chanyeol fell into hysterics, which Sehun found less than amusing. Chanyeol soon devolved into a mess of wheezes and teary-eyed remarks on Sehun's gaming skills, while the boy in question tried to kick him into silence.

Unfortunately, it didn't work.

 

"Arrgh I'm putting on NGE." Sehun grumbled, giving up when he realised his legs were far too weak to do any damage.

 

Pouncing on the opportunity to piss Sehun off even more, Chanyeol commented with a smug grin. "So we can compare how bad you are to the actual thing?"

 

"Fuck you." Sehun uttered, throwing Chanyeol a glare before picking his phone up again. "We're watching One Piece instead."

 

"One Piece? Sounds like crap to be honest." Chanyeol said in disdain, scrunching his nose at the name.

 

As it turned out, Chanyeol was very much wrong. After watching the first episode, the boy fell in love. Hard.

Hours whizzed by as the pair binge-watched a handful of seasons. When the grey haze of the evening replaced the light orange daubed on the walls of the living room, Sehun had already moved in closer to Chanyeol for warmth, a blanket draped over their legs. Turning off the AC was apparently too much of a hassle.

With his head almost - but not quite - leaning on Sehun's, eyes transfixed on the Korean subtitles on the screen, Chanyeol smiled as a feeling of happiness washed over him.

 

Tapping on his companion's shoulder, Chanyeol moved in closer to meet Sehun's ear. "Hey Sehun."

 

"What?" The boy fidgeted with his ear as Chanyeol's breath tickled his skin.

 

"Buy me some One Piece merch."

 

 


	4. Case 4: Stalked by Honey Bees, Threatened by Wheat

**Code: 03**

**Location: Farm**

**Time: N/A**

 

The quiet rustling of a wheat field surrounded Chanyeol, playing a symphony with the whistling breeze that glided across the tips of the golden grains. With his limbs outstretched and back planted on the dirt floor, Chanyeol lay sprawled in a circular clearing somewhere in the field.

He couldn't exactly tell where he was, considering how his body burned in pain and his eyes refused to open to the relentless sun beating down on his face. For all Chanyeol knew, he could've been reliving another memory.

 

It was the sound of static in his ears that told him otherwise.

 

"Ch…an…yeol?" Snippets of Kyungsoo's voice broke through the annoying buzz, though Chanyeol didn't find much relief in hearing the alternative. "…answer me."

 

Quickly sitting up and shaking the dirt off his hair, Chanyeol snorted out a contemptuous laugh, "Fuck you."

 

"I understand that you're angry, but hear me-" Kyungsoo tried to reason with him, his voice returning to its original clarity.  
 

"Angry doesn't begin to describe what I'm feeling, Kyungsoo." Chanyeol snapped, wiping away the streaks of dirt mingled with the sweat on his nape. "If I oppose the system, something bad happens. If I go along with the system, something bad happens."

 

"There's a reas-"

 

"Yeah, I know. You're only trying to save me." Chanyeol quickly interjected, beginning to wade through the thick sea of wheat that stretched out for miles around him. "But how the fuck does electrocuting me help in any way? How is keeping me in the dark all the goddamn time going to save my life?"

 

His guide sighed, almost on the brink of losing his patience. "Look-"

 

"And what is all of this?!" Chanyeol exclaimed, viciously whacking the grains that grazed his body. A cloud of pollen emerged, leaving the man to convulse in a sneezing fit. "Why would Sehun code such a _stupid_ simulation?"

 

"Chanyeol." Kyungsoo said sternly. "If you keep on asking questions, I won't be able to give you answers. Plus, it's not like you're telling me everything either."

 

When the man in question recovered from his bout of sneezes and splutters, Kyungsoo continued without any further interruptions, "You've been seeing memories, yet you haven't said a word about them ever since the incident at the day care."

 

Chanyeol kept his head down, lips pressed into a line while Kyungsoo's words stirred up some unease. "You need to talk to me as well. Sehun's probably brainwashing you and I have no idea what you're being shown."

 

"Brainwashing? But they're all pretty harmless…" Chanyeol mumbled, sentence trailing off while he fiddled with a blade of wheat. It felt like he was being berated by his mother, even though Chanyeol didn't know whether he had a mother or not.

 

"Chanyeol, you like Sehun, don't you? Ever since the first level, you've been saying that Sehun is your friend, that he's not dangerous." At Kyungsoo's words, Chanyeol's ears perked up, breaking out of his sulk. "He _is_ dangerous. Everything that you've seen regarding him is a lie."

 

"There has to be _some_ truth to what I've been seeing." Chanyeol argued, splitting the stalk of the wheat between his fingers.

 

"No. There isn't." Kyungsoo replied bluntly. "Tell me everything that you know about Sehun, minus those 'memories'."

 

"He's…nice." Chanyeol said after a moment's thought while chewing on the blade of wheat, something which he had always wanted to try. "Okay, so that's all I remember. When I woke up in the simulation, that was the only thought I had of him."

 

"Has it ever occurred you to that you're trusting this man based on the fact that 'he's nice'?" Kyungsoo half-stated, half-sneered. "Chanyeol, he's trapped you in a simulation for goodness sake and has made multiple attempts at your life!"

 

"The thing is, I don't remember who _I_ am either." Chanyeol retorted, spitting out the wheat upon realising how unpleasant it tasted - and that it wasn't real. "I can count all the facts about myself on two hands, Kyungsoo. Does that mean I shouldn’t trust myself? The same goes for you. I only know your interests, how can I trust you?"

 

"What kind of point are you trying to make?" Kyungsoo said in a slightly irritated tone. "One person seriously wants to kill you, the other wants to save your life. Who you're meant to be trusting shouldn't take much consideration."

 

"I'm saying that I have no clue about who I am, who you are and who Sehun is!" Chanyeol exclaimed, catching a glimpse of a ginormous tree not too far in the distance during his outburst. "That honestly concerns me than being hunted down by a so-called hacker."

 

"Fine. If you want me to tell you about yourself, I will." Kyungsoo relented, composing himself as his aggravation simmered down. At that point, Chanyeol had already noted how his guide only ever had two settings: apathetic or annoyed.

 

Making his way to the colossal oak tree randomly situated amongst the field of wheat, Chanyeol smiled with satisfaction, "I'd appreciate that. My other questions still stand, by the way."

 

"First of all, there's something I wanted to clarify about Sehun. He's an ethical hacker, and a pretty famous one at that, which is why he was hired by your family's company to oversee their computer network's security." While Kyungsoo began describing the events that occurred outside the simulation, Chanyeol eventually reached the base of the tree, the roots of which protruded from the dry earth and snaked around the trunk.

 

"Not ringing any bells, but go on." Chanyeol commented as he sat down on one of the thicker roots, thankful for the shade provided by the dense canopy of leaves.

 

"He…Sehun's father is your father's business partner. Was, I mean." Kyungsoo resumed, the hesitation between his sentences barely noticeable. "…your father pulled some strings and now Sehun's father is bankrupt."

 

"Oh. I can see where this is going."

 

In Chanyeol's mind, Kyungsoo was probably nodding knowingly, "Sehun got angry, stole and hijacked new technology that your father and his father worked on together, and created a simulation to trap you here. As a threat."

 

"Is there a ransom? How much am I worth? I'd say a billion won at least." Chanyeol asked, leaning back into the sturdy trunk while he overlooked the endless swathes of crops.

 

"If only everyone had as much confidence as you." Kyungsoo remarked, the unseen eye-roll blatantly obvious judging from his tone. "Moving on, there is no ransom. Sehun is doing this with the full intention of killing you. That's where I come in - your father hired me to save you, as you already know."

 

"Can't you just, I don't know, find and arrest Sehun?" Chanyeol suggested, freezing in place as a bee flew by his ear.

 

"I _never_ would've thought of that." Kyungsoo said snidely, unimpressed by Chanyeol's idea. "If it was that easy, you wouldn't be here."

 

"Okay, okay, that was a stupid of me." Chanyeol admitted, side-eyeing the fuzzy creature which made loops in the air before flying towards the tree branches. "Now, on to the most important question, why the hell did you electrocute me?"

 

"Just trying out a new approach, y'know." Kyungsoo responded offhandedly, as if his actions were nothing out of the ordinary. "It worked, as you can tell. This means that I can just _fry_ you into the next level, so you don't have to go gnome hunting. The only problem is that we're on a farm and they don't tend to have massive electrical generators lying around."

 

"Actually Kyungsoo, I've taken a liking to those gnomes." Chanyeol cut in swiftly, his palms sweating from the flashbacks. "We don't need electricity, we can just use the traditional method. For old time's sake!"

 

Not missing the hint, Kyungsoo seized the opportunity to tease Chanyeol, "You're scared, aren't you?"

 

"Pfft. No. Not at all." Chanyeol said unconvincingly, physically waving the very idea away. When Kyungsoo gave him a short, disbelieving laugh in response, Chanyeol pouted,  "Maybe a teeny tiny, minuscule, virtually non-existent bit."

 

"Whatever helps you sleep at night Chanyeol." Kyungsoo chuckled. Low and melodious, the laugh had a certain warmth to it that Chanyeol never noticed before. It wasn't condescending, as it usually was, but comforting, like he was having a casual conversation with a close friend.

 

A tingling feeling bubbled on Chanyeol's tongue, the foreign sensation accompanying the sudden contentment that overwhelmed him. Chanyeol wanted to take it as a sign that he had somehow gotten closer to Kyungsoo, leading him to speak in a more relaxed manner , "By the way, Sehun's bionic arm is pretty damn cool. Can you code one for me?"

 

"If I did, I could probably have coded you _out_ of the simulation." Kyungsoo answered, the stiffness in his speech all but gone as well, from what Chanyeol could hear, "You seem to forget that there's only so much I can do here."  
 

"Dude you summoned a gnome mecha, why can't I have bionic arms?" Chanyeol whined, slumping in his wooden seat like a child in a strop.

 

"I didn't summ- wait, did you just call me dude?" Kyungsoo said in disbelief, a brief pause following his question when Chanyeol didn't want to make comment, "Anyway, that mecha was just another manifestation of a 'key', and there were wires lying around that weren't that hard to manipulate so…"

 

"Hold on, you electrocuted me on a hunch?" Chanyeol interrupted as he immediately straightened his posture, brows knitted.

 

"Yes. Do you have a problem with that?" Kyungsoo stated matter-of-factly, which Chanyeol imagined to have been followed by an uncaring shrug.

 

"Jesus Christ." Chanyeol muttered, shaking his head in disappointment. "Kyungsoo, you need to have a lesson in ethics. This just isn't right."

 

"If you want to talk ethics-" Kyungsoo began to speak, but was cut short by the scuffling of feet and an incessant buzzing noise.

 

From behind the trunk of the tree, a man in a white suit and veiled hat appeared. In a cautious voice, he addressed Chanyeol, "Excuse me?"

Jumping in surprise, Chanyeol spun around to face the man, shocked by the sight of his gear. "You almost gave me a heart attack." Clutching his chest dramatically, Chanyeol took a second to catch his breath.

 

"Are you here to help out?" The man asked, disregarding Chanyeol's over the top attempts at calming his rapidly beating heart. "If so, I'm Junmyeon, a beekeeper."

 

"Of course you are." Chanyeol whispered under his breath, shrugging off his apprehension to accept the greeting with a resigned smile, "Nice to meet you Junmyeon, I'm Chanyeol. What do you need help with?"

 

Looking at him as if he was mad, Junmyeon chose to dismiss Chanyeol's question as a joke, "I thought it was obvious. I mean, that's what you're here for, right? Beekeeping."

 

" _Ohhh_." Chanyeol nodded in an exaggerated manner, fully aware that he probably looked like a fool - not that it mattered, none of it was real. There were a lot of things he was willing to put up with, however, he drew a line at beekeeping. Chanyeol had nothing against bees - they made honey, what could possibly be bad about honey? - but he much rather preferred to admire them from afar, miles away from their stingers. "Erm…I'm allergic."

 

"Allergic to what?" Junmyeon unzipped the veil, revealing his face with its sheen of sweat acquired from a hard day's work.

 

"Bees." Chanyeol said curtly, lips pursed as Junmyeon looked at him dubiously. "I have a bee allergy."

 

For a moment, Junmyeon stared at him in silence, long enough for Chanyeol to think that the simulation had froze and he would have to redo the entire scenario. Shortly after, Junmyeon simply gave him a small smile.

 

"That exists? Wow, you learn something new everyday I guess." He answered in a genuine tone, which left Chanyeol wondering whether his lying skills had vastly improved or the man was just plain gullible. "Then I suppose that it's a bit counterintuitive to be hanging around a bee farm of all places. Why are you here?"

 

"This is going to sound a bit odd, but I'm looking for a gnome." Chanyeol confessed, sliding off the root.

 

"Well why didn't you say that earlier? Come with me." Junmyeon gestured for him to follow, not at all fazed by Chanyeol's response.

 

As Junmyeon led Chanyeol around the diameter of the tree trunk, which was unbelievably wide, they eventually reached the other side. Rows of wooden beehives were arranged in the vicinity of the tree's base, all of them swarming with bees. From what Chanyeol could see, there were at least fifty. Naturally, he felt sorry for Junmyeon, who was tasked with harvesting the honey all by himself.

 

"Where is the…" Chanyeol slowly surveyed the bee farm, but as he turned his attention back to the tree, he saw a gaping wide hole in the trunk that revealed its hollowed insides. In the centre, a giant queen bee slept, its legs latched on to the inner walls. "I think the heat is getting to me."

 

"No, no, you're not delirious. That's the queen bee." Junmyeon said as he picked up a container from a nearby stack. "She takes care of the bees while I harvest the honey. Makes the place less crowded, I suppose."

 

Upon a closer look, Chanyeol noticed the familiar varnished red suit of a gnome. The figurine was, in fact, embedded in the  thorax of the insect, directly between where its wings connected with its body. Had Chanyeol not known any better, he would've thought that it was a sticker.

 

"How exactly do I get that gnome?" Chanyeol asked Junmyeon, who had fished out a harmonica from one of his pockets. Engraved on the metal cover was the image of a bee with music notes trailing behind it.

 

Junmyeon held the instrument to his lips and started to play a tune. A moment later, the queen bee stirred, the sudden rustling of her wings giving Chanyeol a fright. As the melody continued to play, the insect rose from her slumber and momentarily hovered in the air, before gliding outwards into the open.

 

"Climb on her back!" Kyungsoo hastily ordered. With no time to think, Chanyeol jumped and climbed on to the bee's abdomen, taking care to avoid her stinger. As he clambered up the body, the bee became agitated and started to shake vigorously in her attempt to remove Chanyeol.

 

Chanyeol held on tighter, kicking his feet off the abdomen to propel himself upwards and on to the thorax. At his sudden movement, the queen bee jolted into a vertical position and buzzed in anger, drowning out the upbeat tune of Junmyeon's harmonica.

 

With one hand able to reach the gnome, Chanyeol quickly grabbed the ornament before losing his grip altogether. He fell on to the ground with a _thud_ , his back bearing the brunt of the force. Writhing in agony, Chanyeol managed to withstand the pain long enough to slip his hand into the gnome. For once, he was thankful for its existence.

 

As the world around him fragmented into clusters of cyan pixels, Chanyeol could hear Junmyeon's laughter, "I knew that bee allergies weren't a thing!"

 

 

**Filename: PConf_#8_20261002**

**Tag: [Sehun][Chanyeol][News]**

 

Several rows of news reporters were stretched out before Chanyeol, the clicks of their camera tablets filling the hall along with their mindless chatter. Opposite to the furthest row was a small stage, on which stood a single podium with the logo of Mr. Oh's company etched on the front. It was a wolf's head, one that was designed by Chanyeol after the man wanted to replace the previous logo.

 

As Mr. Oh tapped on the mic to silence the reporters, he quickly glanced at Chanyeol and Sehun, who were sitting on a designated row lining the back wall of the hall. They gave him a thumbs up, a silent reassurance.

 

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming today on such short notice." Mr. Oh said with confidence, his voice steady as a result of the hours practising in front of the mirror. "As you all know, GN Group has been funding this project for years now and so, I am happy to announce that OM Enterprises will be releasing the fruits of our labour to the general public in a month's time."

 

A short round of applause erupted, followed by the readying of recorders and note-taking equipment as the reporters anticipated the grand presentation. At the back, Chanyeol squeezed Sehun's hand in consolation, as the latter's worrisome expression had become a source of concern.

 

"Hey, don't look so anxious. Your father's doing fine." Chanyeol assured him, rubbing his back slowly. Nodding in response, Sehun tried to relax his muscles and let out a tense sigh. Out of habit, he started to fiddle with the wires jutting out of his right arm, a nervous reflex which his father often scolded him about. "Don't do that, you'll interfere with the input."  
  
"I know, but I can't help it." Sehun bit the inside of his cheek as he pulled his fingers away. Although three years had passed since the operation on his limb, which was on the verge of complete paralysis, Sehun had yet to grow accustomed to the fact that his nerves were now controlled by external wires. Most boys his age would've been thrilled at the thought of having tech implants, especially the ones that Sehun's father and OM Enterprises produced, but more than anything, Sehun hated it.

His father being a pioneer for new technology was a double-edged sword: on one hand, it brought Sehun popularity and a comfy lifestyle, but on the other hand, their family was always in the media's sights.

 

"God, they're annoying." Sehun sneered as the reporters began throwing his father a flurry of questions, even though he had yet to finish speaking. "They're like bees, always buzzing around."

 

"To be fair, your father did arrange this press conference." Chanyeol tried to reason with him, but he couldn't help but agree. Over the past year, the media had constantly hounded Mr. Oh for not only his inventions, but several scandals he had become involved with. "But I guess it is a little worrying seeing him up there."

 

"They better not bring up that man." Sehun said uneasily as he watched his father hush the rabble.

 

On the screen behind Mr. Oh, a three-dimensional image of his latest project appeared, the technical outline of which surrounded the model in bold white letters. "I proudly present to you 'Sentience'."

 

A collective sound of wonderment resounded in the air, causing the man to smile with pride, "A.I. capable of creating sentient robots has been heavily debated for the past decade, but I feel that…"

 

While Mr. Oh continued his presentation, one that Sehun and Chanyeol had heard him rehearse countless times before, the two boys discreetly checked the live feed for the press conference to see what the reporters were saying about him. Sehun grimaced after reading the first comment.

 

"For the love of God, my dad gives them permission to write about his new tech and all they care about is his divorce from a decade ago?" Sehun grumbled, rapidly scrolling down his phone to skip the endless piles of unrelated nonsense. "My parents are on good terms! Good. Terms."

 

"At least they didn't bring _him_ up." Chanyeol pointed out as the main news site loaded on his phone. As the words formed on the screen, his attention was immediately drawn to the topmost comment. "Ah, I spoke too soon."  
 

During the brief interval allowed for discussion, one reporter raised a question, "Mr. Oh, is it true that you worked on 'Sentience' with an affiliate of GN Group?"

 

With practiced firmness, Mr. Oh responded level-headedly, "Yes, that is true to some extent. It started out as a collaboration, but because we had conflicting views on the project, we decided to go our separate ways. "Sentience" is a result of that, not the origin."

 

Another reporter stood up, an brashness to her words that followed, "Was your partner Mr. Do, the founder of Haneul Technologies?"

 

Mr. Oh gripped the edges of the podium tightly, but he remained composed, "Yes. Mr. Do was an exceptional partner." He answered with sincerity, retaining eye contact with the reporter. "Korea has lost a great man indeed."

 

"Mr. Do committed suicide shortly after GN Group withdrew their support from Haneul Technologies and increased the funding of your 'Sentience' project, do you have any comments on the matter?" A male journalist chimed in with a cockiness to his tone.  
  
As his face contorted in anger, Sehun quickly rose from his seat, only to be held back by Chanyeol, "That _bastard._ " He growled, almost on the verge of shouting. Chanyeol covered the boy's mouth and pulled him back down, hands firmly latched on to Sehun's shoulders to stop him from attacking the reporter.

 

"…That case was resolved as of last year." Mr. Oh replied, his words slow and heavy. "For the sake of the Do family, I implore you to not bring up such matters anymore. But I will repeat this for the last time - OM Enterprises is in no way related to the bankruptcy of Haneul Technologies."

 

Murmurs in the crowd of reporters escalated into a chaos of questions and loud debates amongst themselves. Eventually, Junmyeon, OME's PR specialist, halted the conference once no civilised discussion could continue.

"Thank you for coming today." He said through the mic, "Unfortunately, we have run out of time. Refreshments are available in the neighbouring hall."

 

As each one filed out of the hall, Sehun eyed them with disdain, inwardly cursing them as they all started to talk about Mr. Oh's relation with Mr. Do. Still standing on the stage, Sehun's father called out for him and Chanyeol. Both boys instantly stood up and raced each other down the hall, with Chanyeol beating Sehun due to his advantage of a two centimetre height difference.

 

"Sehun, I saw what you were about to do earlier." Junmyeon sighed, scolding the boy for his outburst, which was luckily quelled by Chanyeol. "Thank God Chanyeol was there or else that reporter would've been torn to shreds."

 

"Why can't you just ban those sleazy tabloid journalists from coming here?" Sehun scoffed, crossing his arms to emphasise the injustice of it all.

 

Tutting, Junmyeon simply ruffled the boy's hair, "That's not how public relations work."

 

"By the way Junmyeon, Yixing's visiting from Changsha to have dinner at our place, why don't you come along?" Chanyeol suggested. Beside him, Mr. Oh nodded in agreement with his briefcase in hand.

 

"I'd love to…but it depends on who's cooking." Junmyeon laughed wryly, flashbacks of their last gathering sending shivers down his spine.

 

"Don't worry, Junmyeon, I've gotten better. Minseok's been giving me some lessons." Mr. Oh reassured him, trying not to sound too offended by the indirect jab at his culinary skills.

 

Giving him an incredulous look, Junmyeon eventually agreed, "Fine, but if I find that my hair is in danger of being singed, I swear to God-"

 

"-that you'll cry again?" Sehun butted in, a smirk on his lips. With narrowed eyes, Junmyeon glared at the boy, which was met with laughter from Chanyeol and Mr. Oh.

 

"Enough chit-chat, I need to cook. We'll see each other again at six."  Mr. Oh announced, a joyful smile on his face, which was a pleasant contrast to the serious expression he wore during the press conference. Sehun liked it that way, when his father wasn't so strung up on company affairs.

Chanyeol knew that and had taken it upon himself to always keep the atmosphere relaxed between the three of them. The happiest moment of his life was probably when Sehun started to laugh at his jokes, which the boy had been adamant on shunning. As time went by, their borders became non-existent and enjoying each other's presence came as easily to them as a bond forged between brothers.

 

As they walked out of the hall, Chanyeol overheard the hushed conversation between Mr. Oh and Junmyeon.

"Mansik, " Junmyeon leaned in, voice barely audible, "Are you really going to hire that boy? I know that it's good for keeping up appearances, but I hardly think that this is the smartest of ideas."

 

"My choice isn't personal. It's strictly for the sake of the company." Mr. Oh said resolutely. "He's practically a genius, I've never seen an application as good as his."

 

"But Mansik-"

 

"Junmyeon, I don't want to hear another word about it." He snapped, before throwing a glance at the two boys, who were preoccupied with a mobile game. "I have the final say on this, and I say that we _will_   hire Do Kyungsoo."

 

 

 


	5. Case 5: The Uncontrollable Urge to Spin Recklessly

**Code: 04**

**Location: Opera House**

**Time: N/A**

 

Gold-fringed velvet curtains brushed against the balcony floor on which Chanyeol found himself standing. In front of him, only an arm's width away, waist-high railings separated the man from the wide stage and the stalls arranged before it.

 

The dim yellow of the stage lights illuminated the otherwise dark venue, and from the orchestra pit, a sombre melody played. Despite the sound of a violin, there were none in sight.

For that matter, there was no one else present, not even a single usher to keep Chanyeol company.

 

"Kyungsoo, have you been keeping something from me?" Chanyeol whispered, feeling as if he had to lower his voice to match the atmosphere.

 

From the wings emerged a single, solitary male ballet dancer. As he approached the centre of the stage, Chanyeol noticed the silver embellishments on his black jacket glinting in the mellow light with every movement he made.

 

"What do you mean? I've told you everything you needed to know." Kyungsoo answered in a more guarded tone than usual.

 

Rising slowly from the pit, the sound of string instruments filled the air, replacing the lone violin with a heavy, reverberating tune. The ballet dancer lifted his head, causing the light to fall on his face and sharpen his features.

As the volume of the music grew louder, he began to dance.

 

"It's _Adagio in G minor_ , right?" Chanyeol asked. Engrossed by the sequence that unfurled before him, he leant over the railings and watched the dancer's movements in awe. Telling Kyungsoo about his memory would have to wait until later.

 

"I'm amazed that you remember something like that." Kyungsoo remarked, though Chanyeol couldn't tell whether his surprise was genuine. "You told me back at the factory that classical music wasn't your thing."

 

"It isn't, but this piece just seems to have stuck with me." Chanyeol chuckled, fingers curling over the crevices of his elbow as he rested his forearms on the railings. The positioning was quite awkward, considering his height, but Chanyeol didn't mind. "Bit depressing, isn't it?"

 

"You're right. When I think of ballet, I don't really think of…this." Kyungsoo said. The dancer glided across the stage, the melody carrying him through the steps with grace. Though Chanyeol didn't know any better, it seemed as if the music was controlling him; he thought that maybe if he squinted, he would be able to see puppet strings connecting the dancer to an invisible puppeteer. Having taken into account his previous experiences in the simulation, the idea wasn't exactly impossible.

 

"Hmm…he's a good dancer." Chanyeol mumbled, gaze transfixed on the man. "Please don't tell me that he's actually a lizard-human hybrid or some elaborate illusion."

 

"No promises there." Kyungsoo laughed. Chanyeol smiled at the sound of it, finding joy in its melody more so than the solemn symphony playing below him.

For the next few minutes, Chanyeol watched the dancer without another word, listening to Kyungsoo's commentary on the arrangement and story of the piece. As it turned out, the guide was knowledgeable not only in matters concerning technology, but also music.

Chanyeol remembered Kyungsoo mentioning something about wanting to become a singer, or even a composer, yet he hadn't given a reason for his drastic change in career choice. 

 

"Don't be weirded out, but your voice is kinda - how do I put this without sounding like a creep? - soothing. Yeah, it's soothing." Chanyeol confessed, standing up to stretch his aching back. Bending over the railings wasn't exactly the most comfortable of positions to watch a ballet performance. "Like, you could do a dramatic reading of a Dr. Seuss book and I wouldn't mind."

 

"I have my thesis nearby, want me to read it to you?" Kyungsoo joked, but Chanyeol was already prepared to take him up on the offer. In the background, the harmony of strings reached the climax of the piece, drowning out Kyungsoo's words in a dramatic burst of sound.

 

As the finale drew closer, Chanyeol picked up a single rose from a vase on a nearby table. When the music died down and the dancer held his finishing pose, Chanyeol threw the rose at his feet, clapping and whooping, much to the surprise of the performer.

 

The dancer looked up at his one-man audience, an expression of pure disbelief on his face.

"Were you watching me?" He called out, before bending down to pick up the rose.

 

"What else would I be doing?" Chanyeol answered with a grin. "What's your name?"

 

"Jongin! What's yours?" The dancer said with an equally pleased smile, twirling the stem of the flower between his fingers.

 

"I'm Chanyeol! I'll come down, hold on a sec."

 

Stepping away from the railing, Chanyeol strode out of the doorway and into the empty hall. On the walls, Degas' paintings of ballerinas were hung with light fixtures above them, shedding a warm glow on the canvas.  Having no time to admire the works, Chanyeol turned left and soon found himself at the top of a stairwell.

He quickly descended the stairs, which led to the floor just below the stage. To his surprise, Jongin was no longer on the spot that Chanyeol expected him to wait, but instead, the single red rose lay crumpled under the beam of the spotlight.

 

After climbing on to the stage, Chanyeol picked up the trampled flower and inspected its petals. They were dark, withered.

 

"Maybe he didn't like it…" Chanyeol muttered in thought, rather offended.

Before he could take a closer look, the rose disintegrated into a cloud of dust, slipping through Chanyeol's fingers and on to the floor. Taken aback, he yelped and quickly wiped the particulates from his hands.

 

From the orchestra pit, a new piece started to play. It was Tchaikovsky's _Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy_.

The sound of whirring resounded from above him and, for a second, Chanyeol thought Sehun and his bionic arm had returned to attack him. He was, once again, very much wrong.

 

Descending from the ceiling,  ball-jointed porcelain ballerinas attached to translucent wires circled Chanyeol. Each wore a black ensemble, similar in style to Jongin's jacket; their tutus were smooth in texture and unnaturally dark, a contrast to their pale skin.

 

As the music continued to play, they danced disjointedly around Chanyeol, blank-faced and exceptionally creepy. With each movement, Chanyeol could here the scraping of their joints and the clicking of their ceramic feet on the stage floor.

In unison, the ballerinas performed a pirouette, which only served to tangle the wires connected to them. Before any of the dancers could complete a third full rotation, the tension in the intertwined wires halted their movements, causing them to abruptly become suspended in the air.

 

Chanyeol stayed deathly still, afraid of moving a muscle. He strained to breath as the panic rose in his chest, "Kyungsoo…they're not going to attack me right?"

 

"No, there's no reason to be afraid." Kyungsoo reassured him, and with that, Chanyeol let out a heavy sigh. "Get away from there if you can't handle it."

 

"What do you mean 'if I can't handle it'?" Chanyeol huffed, cautiously skirting around the frozen body of a ballerina. "I'm 'handling' it just fine, thank you very much. Dolls don't scare me."

 

"Maybe so, but ballerinas seem to." Kyungsoo stated, only half-teasing him. There was a certain seriousness to his tone that Chanyeol couldn't quite comprehend.

 

"They're super fragile. Who wouldn't be scare of someone who can break so easily?"  Chanyeol said in retort, climbing off the stage and into the orchestra pit.

 

"Ballerinas don't break like dolls, Chanyeol. They're humans too, y'know." Kyungsoo responded as Chanyeol made his way to the stall without incident.

 

From behind him, _Adagio in G minor_ began to play again. It was sudden, leading Chanyeol to quickly swerve around to face the stage.

The whirring sound overwhelmed the string instruments as the porcelain ballerinas ascended to the ceiling, their stiff bodies ghostly pale even in the warm yellow light.

Emerging once again from the wings, Jongin stepped in to the centre of the stage.

 

As he positioned himself for another performance, the familiar sound of static erupted in Chanyeol's ear. In blocks across his visions, black and white pixels replaced the regal surroundings, eventually consuming everything.

The inevitable darkness followed, and Chanyeol prepared himself for what was to come.

 

 

**Filename: Sehun_#7743_20271205**

**Tag: [Sehun][Chanyeol][Memory]**

 

With Sehun's status as the son of an incredibly talented engineer and influential businessman, it was almost natural for him to have a circle of friends with a similar position in society as him. One of those friends happened to be Jongin, the son of two world-renowned ballet dancers.

 

Before Sehun's legs could succumb to the disease that affected his right arm, he had taken an interest in dance as a result of Jongin's influence. Chanyeol often made comments about how unfortunate his hobby was, considering that Sehun would inevitably have to stop one day.

 

Nonetheless, it didn't stop him from enjoying the art.

 

Several months after Sehun's twentieth birthday, Jongin invited him and Chanyeol to see his ballet company perform the Nutcracker at the Seoul Arts Centre. Naturally, the two accepted.

 

As they stood outside the venue, shivering in the cold, Jongin momentarily left to buy some hot drinks for the three of them.

Sehun, whose nose had turned a bright red, nuzzled his face into his scarf and hunched his shoulders, attempting to keep as much heat in his coat as possible. Noticing this, Chanyeol slung an arm around his shoulders and closed the space between them, something he always did during the winter months when Sehun couldn't be bothered to dress appropriately for the weather.

 

"You know, I think I've gotten taller." Chanyeol said, patting Sehun's head. The latter glared, tilting his head away as he grabbed on to Chanyeol's wrist and pushed the arm backwards.

 

"Oh _good for you_." Sehun sneered through chattering teeth, though it was difficult to stay mad when all he could see was Chanyeol's face contorting into a hilarious expression as he laughed. "How was your visit to Changsha? You flew here straight from China, you must be tired."

 

"Eh, the usual. Yixing's still making those killer dumplings, I can't really complain." Chanyeol responded with a shrug after settling down, having become used to his constant travelling between China and Korea over the past four years. "Your dad said that I've only got one more visit to go and then that's it, you'll get to spend more quality time with me."

 

"I'm looking forward to that." Sehun deadpanned, crossing his arms tighter as he shivered vigorously. Despite having tech implants, the cold was still a pain in the ass. "Do you know what they'll be doing to you on your last visit?"

 

"Yeah, they're go-"

 

Before he could finish, Jongin appeared with two cups of tea and a cup of coffee. Holding one to his lips, he grimaced and immediately pulled it away, gagging in disgust, "Gross, that one was coffee." Jongin spluttered, then proceeded to hand the cup to Chanyeol. "Here. For you."

 

With pursed lips, Chanyeol grabbed the cup, " _Thanks_."

 

"No problem." Jongin answered, genuinely oblivious to the sarcasm. After passing the tea to Sehun, the trio went inside and chatted about Jongin's role as the Cavalier. Eventually, the dancer had to depart, leaving the other two to make their way to their balcony box seats.

 

After fifteen minutes of waiting patiently for the performance to begin, the curtains of the stage parted, revealing the opening scene with its snow-dusted houses and formally dressed actors.

 

Throughout the performance, Sehun remained unperturbed, giving the bare minimum of applause, while beside him, Chanyeol was always on the verge of whooping and cheering. His outbursts were only stopped by well-timed kicks to the ankle, courtesy of Sehun.

 

As the _pas de deux_ began and Jongin entered with his partner, Soojung, Chanyeol could no longer contain himself and clapped as loud as he possibly could, much to the chagrin of Sehun, even though he himself had broken into a wide grin.

 

The pair danced seamlessly, their bodies moving to the solemn melody. With every crescendo, the audience applauded as the two dancers performed sharp, thoroughly practiced manoeuvres.

 

Sehun shifted closer to Chanyeol, whispering in his ear, "Jongin was really nervous about this. It's his first time as the Cavalier."

 

"He doesn't look nervous at all." Chanyeol said, mildly impressed at how calm Jongin was. "Then again, he is dancing with Soojung."

 

The pair exchanged knowing looks, snickering amongst themselves as their friend continued to dance with ease. As the tempo of the piece increased once more, Sehun and Chanyeol turned their attention back to the stage, enthralled by the dynamics of the two dancers.

 

Upon Jongin's second lift of Soojung, there was a sense of unease in the man's movements. It had only been a slight shake of his arm, but Chanyeol knew Jongin to be a perfectionist and could instantly tell that the dancer was already beating himself up over it.

 

With bated breath, the pair watched the execution of the third lift.

 

This time, it was more than an unstable arm.

 

As Soojung dived from her higher position, with the intent of being caught by Jongin, her body slipped through her partner's grip, having been momentarily out of time with each other.

 

When she fell to the floor, it was more than a bruise on her side.

 

Soojung had landed on her hip, the force fracturing her femur, as the medics who attended the fallen ballerina later announced.

 

 

**Filename: Sehun_#7744_20271205**

**Tag: [Sehun][Chanyeol][Memory]**

 

Sitting on the edge of his bed, Jongin buried his face in his hands, a sheen of tears forming on the palms. Beside him, Sehun sat in silence, fiddling with the loose threads of his sweater sleeve; he was out of his depth in such situations and so was Chanyeol, who tried to console Jongin by distracting him with mindless chatter. It wasn't working and all three of them could tell.

 

Shaking, Jongin sniffed and looked up to address his two friends, "Thanks for the concern, but I just want to be alone right now."

 

Sehun and Chanyeol glanced at each other, exchanging an unspoken agreement, before rising from their seats, "We'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?" Sehun said, placing a stiff hand on Jongin's shoulder. He was always used to being comforted, to the point that comforting _others_ was practically an alien concept to him.

 

"Yeah, play some _Adagio in G minor_ to wash those worries away!" Chanyeol chimed in, trying to lighten the mood.

 

Scrunching his nose, Sehun gave him a disapproving look, "That's probably the worst piece of music you can play at times like these. Do you _want_ Jongin to stay depressed?"

 

"Oh…I just saw it on the shelf. Thought I might show off my knowledge of classical music." Chanyeol admitted sheepishly, "Oops?"

 

With that, Jongin burst into laughter, his blood-shot eyes pushed into crescents as a wide smile appeared on his lips, "No, I do actually like that one." He said, standing up to grab the album from the shelf. "Why don't you listen to it? The format's a bit old, but you'll probably have a player lying around somewhere."

 

Taking the album, Chanyeol noticed Jongin's tear-streaked cheeks no longer accompanied his crestfallen expression, instead, they framed the man's sad smile, telling of his waning sorrow. "Thanks, I've always wanted to listen to-" He quickly eyed the composer's name, "-Al…binoni."

 

"Don't lie to yourself Chanyeol, you thought that Mozart and Beethoven were the same person." Sehun snorted, prying the album from Chanyeol's fingers and handing it back to Jongin, "I've still got the copy you gave me at home, so you keep it."

 

"I didn't _give_ you the copy, I let you borrow it. You kept it for so long that I thought you lost it, that's why a bought a new one!" Jongin huffed, wiping his damp cheeks.

 

"…Oops?" Sehun said, smiling meekly.

 

As Jongin began hitting him for making him worry about potentially losing a limited edition album - complete with _all_ iterations of the piece by famous orchestras and composers - the scene froze.

 

**!UNKNOWN has been granted access**

 

**!Internal Storage unlocked**

 

**Filename: Demo**

**Owner: Do_HoJun**

 

**Play?**

**No >Yes**

 

Plain white walls. A plain white room. A man in plain white clothes.

Three constants that greeted Chanyeol, all of which seemed to ring with familiarity, as if he had found himself in a place he always belonged. Or once belonged.

 

With an expressionless countenance, the man spoke to him, or rather, _at_ him. "Initiate recording."

 

No words would come out of Chanyeol's mouth, but there was no reason to. For a moment, Chanyeol contemplated whether it was a memory or another part of the simulation. Perhaps it was neither.

 

"Let this be my mark on you." The man muttered, his tone seeming to harbour no malicious intent. He looked directly at Chanyeol with a piercing gaze and straightened his posture, as if he was addressing an audience.

 

In a clear voice, he introduced himself, "I am Do Hojun, founder of Haneul Technologies. After years of being funded by GN Group, I proudly present-"

 

The audio abruptly cut off.

The white turned to black.

 

**Code: 04**

**Location: Opera House**

**Time: N/A**

 

Finding himself back at the opera house, Chanyeol's mind was in a disarray, unsure of what to think. In front of him, the stage was empty: no spotlight, no ballerinas, no orchestra music originating as if from nowhere.

On the barrier separating the orchestra pit from the stalls, a gnome perched with its innocently wide smile and festive outfit.

 

Chanyeol knew, by that point, the procedure should've been almost like a reflex to him. There was no reason to hesitate, Kyungsoo only wanted to save him.

Kyungsoo wouldn't lie to him, he had already rescued him from Sehun several times.

Why would he lie?

 

Those memories couldn't certainly be real, Sehun _had_ to be the enemy.

Why would he lie?

 

"How long are you going to stand there?" Kyungsoo's voice bore through the silence. Despite Chanyeol's lack of initiative in taking the gnome, he remained patient. "Just take it and you'll be free."

 

Doing as he was told, Chanyeol stepped closer to the figurine and reached out to grab it, the cold terracotta brushing against his finger tips. Before he could hold it, a message appeared central to his vision. In bold white letters against a pixelated red background, it read "ERROR".

 

Surprised, Chanyeol lurched backwards. Around him, multiple "ERROR" messages dotted around his vision, following him wherever he turned, as if they were plastered directly on his eyes.

 

"Chanyeol we don't have time, _hurry_." An uncharacteristic panic laced Kyungsoo's voice. "Seriously, what are you waiting for? Hurry up!"

 

After eventually clutching the ornament in his grip, Chanyeol turned the body upside down and prepared to slide his hand in, even though all he could see was a red and white blur of pop-ups.

 

He hesitated, a burning question suddenly waiting to be asked, "Is Do Hojun your father?"

 

"No, I don't know who that is." Kyungsoo denied, the aggravation painfully clear in his voice.

 

"You work at OM Enterprises, don't you?" Chanyeol pressed on, unshaken by his guide's hostile response.

 

Sighing, Kyungsoo replied in an increasingly irritated tone. "For God's sake Chanyeol, I thought we've established this already. Don't believe what you've been shown."

 

"I don't. And I don't believe you either." Chanyeol said through gritted teeth, letting the gnome fall from his hands and on to the floor. As it rolled over the red carpet, the number of pop-ups multiplied rapidly, forming one massive pixelated entity.

 

In a matter of seconds, there was nothing but a mask of red. On it, a new message emerged.

 

**!Virus detected**

 

**Process [GN.OME] quarantined**

 

**System rebooting…**

 

**…**

 

**…**

 

**Initiating [CY.0.0.9]**

 

**System Check: No Issues Found**

 

**[Senses] loaded**

**[Framework_Control] loaded**

**[Database_Control] loaded**

 

**Status:**

**> [ON]    [OFF]    [STANDBY]**

 

**…**

 

**…**

 

**Recording in Progress**

 

When Chanyeol regained consciousness, a metallic taste lingered on his tongue. Shifting his gaze to his surroundings, he was met with the sight of steel boxes and glaring screens riddled with indecipherable statistics. From a reservoir on the floor, which was filled with a thick red substance, tubes emerged and snaked across the elevated platform on which Chanyeol lay, connecting with his body.

 

Beside him, Sehun sat in a wicker chair, a blanket carefully draped over his slumbering body. Fear bubbled in Chanyeol's chest at the sight of the man, a conditioned reflex after being hunted down and supposedly manipulated in his simulation.

Chanyeol quickly sat up, noticing a tug on his body as he did. Having fully come to his senses, he looked down at his arms and legs, staring in disbelief as he noticed the unknown substance being pumped into his body. In a state of panic, Chanyeol pulled out the tubes, the liquid spattering on his face before they fell to the floor beneath the platform.

 

The commotion woke Sehun up, who began rubbing the sleep from his eyes. As his vision cleared, his mouth fell open upon seeing Chanyeol.

 

"You're awake…" Sehun said with a relieved smile, quickly rising from his seat to approach Chanyeol. With only a metre between them, Chanyeol grabbed the man by the collar and pulled him up on to the platform, finding a strength he never knew he had.

 

Sehun winced in pain as his head slammed against the cold metal, the force of Chanyeol's hand on his throat. "Wh..a..." He struggled to speak, clawing at the skin on Chanyeol's arm.

 

"You need to stop fucking with me." Chanyeol snarled, pressing down harder. "I've had enough of all this bullshit. All these 'memories'. Who do you think you are?"

 

He was shouting, confusion and anger all stirring inside him, turning his mind askew. With his right arm, Sehun pushed against Chanyeol's chest, hurtling him backwards.

 

As he gasped for air, Sehun bit back, "What the hell are you talking about?!"

 

Chanyeol fell to the floor, his body making an usually loud clatter as it came into contact with the granite tiles. Rolling to his side, he glared up at Sehun, "Don't play innocent, you trapped me in a simulation for God's sake! You tried to _kill_ me."

 

"You've completely lost me, Chanyeol." Sehun said, bewildered. "I know next to nothing about coding, let alone simulations or whatever it is you just said. I think you might be hallucinating."

 

Still unconvinced, Chanyeol continued to answer back with hostility, "But my father-"

 

"What the? Seriously, what's gotten into you?" Sehun snorted, brows knitted in mild worry. "You don't have a father. You've never had one. Ever."

 

Sitting up in a cross-legged position, Chanyeol looked at him in shock, as if his world had just come crashing down. He paused, narrowing his eyes as he suddenly remembered what Kyungsoo told him. "…You're lying, aren't you?" Chanyeol muttered, voice low and simmering with a growing fury.

 

Throwing his hands up in resignation, Sehun climbed off the platform and walked over to the door, "I can't reason with you, I'm getting Yixing because you need sorting out." He said, leaving the room and Chanyeol behind him.

 

For a few minutes, Chanyeol sat on the floor, lost in thought and searching for memories that didn't seem to come to him. Even the events in the so-called simulation were a blur; he could vaguely recall the sound of Kyungsoo's voice and the snippets of his and Sehun's life that may or may not have been altered. In his mind, only little bits of who he was prior to the simulation existed. No sudden recollections, no life-changing events. Everything Chanyeol knew himself to be remained as inessential facts that he had somehow managed to discuss with Kyungsoo.

 

In addition, Sehun didn't seem hell-bent on killing him, and _if_ he was telling the truth about Chanyeol's father, then Kyungsoo would've been the one lying. The question was: why would he lie?

As Chanyeol tried to make sense of the jigsaw puzzle of random information, the door behind him creaked open.

 

Expecting Sehun, he swerved around to give him a piece of his mind, only to stop when he realised that an unfamiliar man was standing in the doorway. From observations alone, he was young, and much shorter than either Chanyeol or Sehun.

 

"Who are you?" Chanyeol asked the stranger, who was wearing a white polo shirt and a lanyard with words "OM Enterprises" stitched on to it.

 

"Have you forgotten already? I'm Kyungsoo." He answered, a wry smile on his lips.

 

 


	6. Case 6: When All Honesty is Lost

On August 30, 2023, Kyungsoo had come home from a judo tournament, the gold medal hidden in the palm of his hand as he opened the gate. A certain tingling feeling crawled through his fingers, bubbling into a sense of excitement across his entire body.

In all the fourteen years he had lived, there was nothing Kyungsoo wanted more than to make his parents proud. _Genuinely_ proud.

Not those honeyed words spoken to him when he achieved perfect grades - those were expected; anything less and Kyungsoo wouldn't have dared face his parents, in fear of disappointing them.

 

As he stepped on to the stone tiles, all swept and none misaligned, Kyungsoo saw his older brother, Seungsoo, sitting by the threshold of the front door, smoking. Kyungsoo frowned, wondering why he would pick the habit up again after working so hard to quit.

 

"Hyung, why are you smoking?" Kyungsoo asked, discreetly sliding the medal into his trouser pocket.

 

"Kyungsoo…" Seungsoo answered shakily. He trembled as if he were crying, but there were no tears. "Come here."

 

Doing as he was told, Kyungsoo set his bag down and squatted to meet his brother's eye level. A thin tendril of smoke rose from the cigarette, wavering in the late summer breeze. It was a grey veil suspended between them, separating the two brothers. Behind it, Kyungsoo could see the reddish tint in the whites of Seungsoo's eyes.

 

"Dad committed suicide." Seungsoo said calmly, looking directly at Kyungsoo with an unfaltering gaze.

 

In that moment, it was as if the world stopped. Kyungsoo could no longer hear the distant murmur of traffic, nor the chirping of the birds. His brother stayed still, a frozen expression telling of the immense sadness behind his steely eyes.

 

The medal in his pocket felt heavier, more burdening that it had been before. There was a lot weighing on that medal. It had held Kyungsoo's dreams, aspirations, and a possible future. But on that day, it became nothing more than a chunk of metal.

 

\---

 

Two days after the suicide, Haneul Technologies filed for bankruptcy and eventually dissolved with no further statement from GN Group. Upon checking Do Hojun's personal account, Kyungsoo had found that his father had accumulated tremendous amounts of personal debt in his attempt to keep the company afloat, which ultimately was in vain.  Although there was no suicide note, the negative numbers said it all.

 

In the weeks that followed, life took a downturn for the Do family.

 

With no other choice but to sell their home and the majority of their possessions, Kyungsoo and his family moved into a cheap apartment complex one week later. The building was old and sorely lacking in decent amenities, a stark contrast to the secure suburban lifestyle they had once lived. Aside from the basic essentials, the Do's had virtually nothing.

 

Once the summer holidays came to an end, Kyungsoo returned to school. As Haneul Technologies was - or _used_ to be - a prominent affiliate of GN Group, the death of its founder was no secret to the Korean public. As such, walking into his classroom was hell.

 

Being a reserved person, no one would usually pay heed to Kyungsoo despite his impressive background, but the minute he stepped past the threshold on the first day back, all eyes turned to him. Attention was the last thing he wanted, let alone the insincere words of comfort from his otherwise apathetic classmates.

 

Kyungsoo knew that they meant well, after all, what could they possibly gain from sweet-talking the son of an indebted family? Nonetheless, their pity wasn't what he wanted. He wanted to be left alone.

 

Luckily, for a short a time, they did. His classmates soon turned their interest to Oh Sehun from their sister class. As the son of OM Enterprises' CEO, it was a common occurrence for Sehun to be flocked, adored and admired simply for gracing the students with his presence; however, for once, there was a good reason for the copious amounts of attention.

 

That reason came in the form of tech implants on Sehun's right arm. _Extremely_ expensive tech implants made from rare, and above all, costly materials that the boy offhandedly bragged about - people asked, he answered. Not that Kyungsoo cared, why should it concern him?

 

 As it turned out, it eventually _did_ concern him.

 

During the lunchtime of the same day, Kyungsoo sat in his seat tucked away in the back of the classroom and aimlessly scrolled through the news on his phone. Though he tried to avoid reading anything about his father and his company, one such article caught his attention.

 

Graphs and various statistics loaded on his screen, all showing data gathered from GN Group and its various affiliates, one of which was OM Enterprises. A summary from the journalist commented on the suspicious rise in OME's funding at the same time as Haneul Technologies' stocks tanked, placing a particular emphasis on how investors withdrew their funds despite the latter company's profits being on a steady rise. It was as if they had collectively expected Haneul Technologies' bankruptcy, even though the data at the time had suggested otherwise.

 

Having been far too preoccupied with reading the article, Kyungsoo jolted in surprise as a sudden rush of noise erupted outside the classroom. Through the window, he could see Sehun walking by with his right arm fully in view, a gaggle of girls and boys trailing behind him.

 

Wires snaked across his skin, an intricate network that performed functions unknown to Kyungsoo. Beside Sehun, an unfamiliar boy looked back at him, a slightly bewildered expression on his face. As they made eye contact, Kyungsoo quickly turned away, not wanting to seem like a creep.

 

As the group passed, Kyungsoo mulled over the journalist's words and the data he had seen.  A seed of doubt was planted in his mind as he eyed Sehun and his arm, leaving a bitter taste to linger on his tongue.

 

\---

 

During the years after his father's suicide, Kyungsoo eventually accepted his loss and the new lifestyle. He learnt what it was like to be unable to pay the monthly rent and have the threat of eviction hanging over his head; to have a widowed mother who was constantly working to pay off her late husband's debt; to have a brother who gave up his studies to pursue any and all part-time jobs in order to prevent his family from starving.

 

He learnt what it was like to give up on his dreams, to tuck it away in a cardboard box and push it aside for the rest of his life. Kyungsoo had always wanted to be a singer; ever since he was a child, his role model had been Yoo Youngjin, who he'd often dream of collaborating with. Instead, Kyungsoo chose to walk down the same path his father did, in hopes of one day reviving Haneul Technologies and showing the world that they indeed had lost a brilliant man.

 

On the night of September 29, 2026, Kyungsoo had taken a break from studying to help his mother re-arrange the bookshelf, having found a forgotten box of photo albums and various trinkets that she wanted to display.

 

Sifting through several albums, Kyungsoo eventually picked up one with an aquamarine cover and opened it up to flick through the pages. It was the usual: baby pictures of him and Seungsoo, their yearly trips to Harbin, China, and the judo tournaments and singing competitions he had attended.

 

At the end of the album, a single photo was tucked between the final page and back cover. As Kyungsoo pulled it out, he was presented with an image of a robot with a fully exposed framework, showing all of its inner mechanisms in detail; it had a similar stature to that of a small child, on the head of which were lidless eyes that unnerved Kyungsoo.

 On both sides of it, two men stood with proud smiles on their faces. It was Do Hojun and Oh Mansik.

 

Confused, Kyungsoo turned the photo to read the message written on the back. Underneath the title 'CY.0.0.1', a note read: "A present for Sehun. Godspeed to you and your son, Mansik."

The photo was most likely a gift that was never given, as Kyungsoo concluded.

 

Kyungsoo slid the photo back into the album and slammed it shut, pressing the book in his hands for a moment. As he stared at the stacked pages, a thousand thoughts swarmed his mind, causing the once forgotten sorrow to resurface again.

 

While he sat cross-legged on the floor, Seungsoo walked into the room with a weary expression and a sheet of paper in hand.

 

"Hey Soo, OM Enterprises are offering student internships," Seungsoo said, handing his brother the flyer. After doing so, he collapsed on to the sofa, letting out an exhausted sigh. "You've got the grades and it might be some pretty good work experience. Why don't you apply?"

 

As he scanned the details written on the flyer, an idea wormed its way into Kyungsoo's mind, accompanying the growing doubt that had settled there years ago, "Yeah, sounds good." He replied, a small smile creeping on his lips. "Maybe they'll even remember dad's name when they see my application."

 

"Heh, given that his name keeps popping up at Oh Mansik's press conferences, they probably will." Seungsoo sneered, pulling a blanket over his knees. "There's going to be another one in three days, I _can't wait_ for those tabloid journalists to bring up dad's suicide again."

 

"Hyung, do you think that dad and Mr. Oh were friends?" Kyungsoo asked, flopping beside his brother and seizing the blanket for himself.

 

"Huh, didn't you know?" Seungsoo said, mildly shocked. "Oh wait, you were too young to remember. Both of them collaborated ages ago on some secret project. Don't know what happened to it, but yeah, they were friends."

 

"Oh…okay." Kyungsoo muttered. As he did, Seungsoo began wrestling him for the blanket, grumbling about the cold and the lack of central heating. Despite his rusty judo skills, Kyungsoo still managed to overpower him, kicking Seungsoo to the floor while he held on to the blanket in triumph.

 

Later that evening, when his brother and mother were asleep, Kyungsoo worked on his personal statement. On the first day of October, he sent off his application with a pleased smile, anticipating the company's response.

 

\---

 

On November 3, 2026, Kyungsoo was hired as an intern at OME. As expected, his first duty was to make a cup of coffee for a visiting guest in the lounge. As Kyungsoo handed the man named Yixing the polystyrene cup, he noticed a well-known logo stitched on to the chest of Yixing's lab coat.

 

"Are you from OME's China branch?" Kyungsoo asked out of curiosity, fiddling with his lanyard. His hand covered his ID card as he absentmindedly tugged at the strap. "The one in Changsha, right?"

 

"How did you know? Are you a psychic?" Yixing answered, eyes wide in disbelief. For a second, Kyungsoo wondered whether he was being sarcastic, but the man's reaction seemed far too genuine.

 

"The logo on your coat says 'Changsha Institute, OME'." Kyungsoo stated, trying not to laugh at Yixing's rather endearing puzzlement. "Your job must be amazing. That place has all the leading scientists and engineers working on artificial intelligence."

 

"The second sentence is true, but my job isn't anything special." Yixing said before taking a sip of coffee. Upon seeing Kyungsoo stand around awkwardly, he gestured the boy to take a seat, "I've pretty much been working on Mansik's pet project, or pro _jects_ , all these years."

 

"What do you mean by that?" Kyungsoo questioned, sitting down in an armchair opposite to Yixing.

 

"Hmm, I thought that they briefed on you on stuff like this, but oh well." Yixing shrugged, swirling the contents of the cup as he spoke. "One project is the tech implants for Mr. Oh's son - he's got a degenerative disease, you see - and the other is providing implements for 'Sentience's' first prototype."

 

Memories of Sehun came to Kyungsoo's mind, but he momentarily set them aside. "Must be pretty expensive."

 

"You bet." Yixing chuckled, placing the cup on the coffee table.  "If GN Group hadn't given us the funding meant for Haneul Technologies, none of that would've been possible."

 

"Ah…isn't Haneul Technologies the company that went bankrupt?" Kyungsoo commented, feigning ignorance on the matter, even though saying those very words left a sour taste in his mouth. "Its founder died a while ago, didn't he?"

 

"Unfortunately, yes." Yixing answered, nodding sympathetically. "Mansik was so distraught when Hojun committed suicide. Heck, I heard he even hired Hojun's son."

 

"Oh I heard about that too." Kyungsoo lied, his jaw clenching slightly while his hand still hovered over his ID card. "Say, why _did_ GN Group withdraw their funding from Haneul Technologies? Mr. Oh must feel really guilty about that."

 

"Between you and me…I don't think he actually feels guilty." Yixing leant in, whispering his thoughts to Kyungsoo. As he did, Kyungsoo's impression of the man instantly improved. "Even though he was friends with Hojun, you should've seen how happy he was when the money came flowing in."

 

"As for your first question, the simple answer is: nobody knows." Yixing continued, his back hunched and elbows resting on his knees. "Only Mansik and the guys right at the top actually have an idea about what went down."

 

"It must bother you though." Kyungsoo remarked, mirroring Yixing's position. He caught sight of the empty coffee cup, feeling rather pleased that Yixing liked it. "The funding for Mansik's personal projects relied on the dissolution of Haneul Technologies."

 

"When you put it that way, it sounds absolutely horrible." Yixing huffed, picking up the cup to take a sip, only to realise that there was no more coffee. He set it back down, mildly embarrassed. "But being able to work on 'Sentience' has been the most rewarding experience in my life."

 

With brows knitted, Kyungsoo frowned, "Even though it was at the expense of another person's life?" He retorted, having mixed feelings on Yixing's opinion.

 

"I can see that you have very strong views on this." Yixing laughed, dismissing the boy's forwardness. "However, once you meet Chanyeol, you'll understand why I feel the way I do."

 

"Chanyeol? Who's that?" Kyungsoo asked, tilting his head as he repeated the unfamiliar name.

 

"Seriously? Do they not brief anyone anymore?" Yixing responded, looking at the boy quizzically. "You should at least know Sehun. Oh Sehun."

  
When Kyungsoo nodded, Yixing resumed his explanation, "Chanyeol's the one that's always with him. Matted curls, a love for 'One Piece', ringing any bells?"

 

Although the other details were unknown to him, Kyungsoo could definitely remember who Yixing was talking about. Chanyeol was the boy that would often hang around, or rather, latch himself to Sehun at school. "Yeah, I think I've seen him around."

 

"Good. He's Mansik's first project, one of the two I told you about." Yixing said, content that the boy wasn't completely ignorant of the company's affairs.

 

With his owlish eyes widened in disbelief, Kyungsoo interrupted Yixing to gather his thoughts, "Hold on a second, Chanyeol's a-"

 

"A robot."

 

 

\---

 

After the day of their conversation, Yixing flew back to China to return to OME's Changsha institute, leaving with only the knowledge of Kyungsoo's name and a promise to share details of the 'Sentience' project during his next visit.

Upon realising that Chanyeol wasn't in fact human, Kyungsoo's vague course of action evolved into a fully fledged plan. If Chanyeol was a robot manufactured by Oh Mansik himself, then there was a strong possibility that he held all the answers that Kyungsoo needed.

 

At first, he felt that it was hardly ethical to hack into someone's memories, but at the same time, that certain someone was just a sentient bundle of wires and metal rods in its simplest sense. In the decade following the conception of GN Group and its firm belief on supporting the creation of sentient technology, a clear division in views concerning the matter had formed across the globe. People were either for or against the idea that robots could ever be considered 'human'.

Despite being heavily involved in the artificial intelligence industry, his father had been very much against the idea, which in turn influenced Kyungsoo to share the same beliefs. To Do Hojun, robots, no matter how intelligent they were, would always be beneath humans.

 

By the time Kyungsoo managed to reclaim his father's personal computer with the help of Seungsoo's growing list of connections, he was already set on carrying out his plan. Avenging his father was considerably more important than some robot.

 

For the rest of the year until Yixing's next visit, Kyungsoo spent countless hours coding and perfecting the program that would ultimately give him access to Chanyeol's internal computer: the 'GN.OME' process. Kyungsoo didn't want make the process stand out and risk being caught immediately, therefore he decided it would be better to simply use the company's name.

 

On December 9, 2027, Yixing visited OME's Headquarters in Seoul and happened across Kyungsoo, who sat in the lounge that they had first met.

 

Greeting the twenty year old with a smile, Yixing smiled at the man patiently sitting on an armchair, "Kyungsoo, nice to see you again!"

 

"Likewise Mr. Zhang." Kyungsoo returned the greeting, standing up to bow as Yixing approached him. "How's the project going?"  
 

"Ah don't give me that, Yixing is fine." He said, placing a friendly hand on Kyungsoo's shoulder. "The project _should_ be finished today, that is, if Mansik doesn't suddenly change his mind and ask for more implements on Chanyeol."

  
With his head tilted in feigned confusion, Kyungsoo asked the man in a tone removed of all insincerity, "Oh, why are you holding it in Korea?"

 

"We've transferred the equipment here from China." Yixing stated, to which Kyungsoo simply nodded. It was a situation already known to him, one that he had long prepared for. "Mansik wants to use it for the public release of 'Sentience', you see."

 

"Makes sense I suppose." Kyungsoo said nonchalantly.  "If it isn't too much to ask, do you mind if I observe you?"

 

"I don't see why not." Yixing affirmed. "Come with me, Chanyeol's already plugged in."

 

As Yixing led the way, Kyungsoo trailed behind him, eyes fixated on the man's back. In his hand, a USB flash drive was tucked away, the cool metal firmly pressed against his skin. After ascending several stories of the building in an elevator, the pair eventually reached their destination, which, from the outside, looked like any other room. The door was unassuming and its location wasn't particularly special, nor were there any signs specifically directed towards it.

 

Yixing explained that its modest exterior was for security reasons as he opened the door, revealing an array of complex machinery. In the centre of the relatively large room was a raised metal platform, on which Chanyeol's body lay.

 

After gesturing Kyungsoo to enter, Yixing pointed at a reservoir on the floor, the appearance of which resembled that of congealed blood, though it was far less viscous.

 

"The red liquid you see here runs through Chanyeol's artificial blood vessels." Yixing clarified its function upon seeing the Kyungsoo's perplexed expression. "It basically monitors the conditions in his body and translates them as data on the screens around us."

 

He pointed to the rows of monitors that adorned the otherwise bare walls, then shifted his attention to one especially wide screen, "Here is the main computer, which is directly connected to Chanyeol's system and allows me to view the files in his internal computer."

 

"What implements are you going to give him this time?" Kyungsoo interjected, having found the one piece of information that he wanted.

 

"One year here and they _still_ haven't bothered to inform you?" Yixing said, shaking his head. "The final adjustments aren't anything big, I'm just going to expand his data storage capacity and improve the security of his internal computer. There are some potentially endangering vulnerabilities still present."

 

"No one's really told me anything other than how to use the photocopier, to be honest with you." Kyungsoo backtracked to Yixing's first point, not wanting to seem too eager about Chanyeol's computer and accidentally revealing his intentions.

 

"That's odd, they usually tell all the interns about 'Sentience' during their induction day." Yixing remarked, picking up the clipboard at the foot of the platform. "Maybe you missed a meeting?"

 

Kyungsoo was never informed of an induction day. During his year as an intern, the company always gave him the bare minimum amount of information, "Err…yeah, I came in pretty late on my first day here."

 

"That explains it then." Yixing said, walking over to an area hidden by a pastel blue curtain. "Don't worry, we've got time. I'll tell you what you need to know."

While Kyungsoo examined the equipment, Yixing dragged out two wicker chairs. Arranging them by the end of the metal platform, Yixing motioned for Kyungsoo to take a seat, to which Kyungsoo obliged.

 

"Thanks Yixing." He smiled warmly as he sat down. From his position, Kyungsoo could see Chanyeol's feet; his skin was tinged a muted red colour, a result of the red liquid coursing around his titanium framework.

 

"Chanyeol is a robot, we've got that sussed." Yixing muttered, flicking through the sheets of paper on his clipboard, "And his main purpose is to be Sehun's companion. So therefore he's a 'companion robot'."

 

Placing the board on his lap, Yixing looked in the direction of Chanyeol's body, the hum of the reservoir's pump reverberating in the air, "Ever since Mansik first presented him to me, I've been slowly adding to his framework." He explained, occasionally shifting his gaze to the data on the screens. Each screen read 'Standby', followed by a scrolling list of words and numbers,  "Over the years, I've been adjusting his body to match Sehun's age and adding features present on a typical mammal, essentially creating an artificial human. I mean, look at him, you can't tell that he's a robot, can you?"

 

"I never would've guessed it," Kyungsoo agreed, "So does Chanyeol only exist because of Sehun?"

 

"There's no sugar-coating it, is there?" Yixing chuckled, though his laughter was tinted with a certain sadness. Kyungsoo could tell that he had some attachment to Chanyeol. "If Sehun hadn't been born with his illness, then Chanyeol - as he is now - would never have been created."

 

"What illness does Sehun have that could possibly warrant the need for a companion _and_ tech implants?" Kyungsoo asked, inwardly scoffing at how Mansik seemed to spoil his son.

 

"That's…a private matter." Yixing said slowly, deliberating over what he could say. " But I _can_ tell you that his right arm is paralysed. As part of one of Mansik's projects, the Institute developed wires that would act as Sehun's nerves. Eventually, his entire nervous system will be replaced by those wires."

 

"Fair enough. I won't interrogate you about it." Kyungsoo accepted the short explanation, knowing that he would eventually find out anyway. "A private matter is private for a reason."  
 

"I'm glad that you understand." Yixing rose from his seat, and made his way to the main computer. "Anyway, back to Chanyeol."

 

After a minute of Yixing typing on a keyboard, the 'Standby' status eventually changed to 'Developer mode', the words appearing simultaneously on all screens. While Yixing carried on with his preparations, Kyungsoo stood by the side of the platform, observing Chanyeol in silence. Though he knew that the man was a robot, Kyungsoo couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy: Chanyeol lived a life of luxury and all he had to do was babysit Sehun, while Kyungsoo's family suffered because of GN Group's decision to fund Mansik's projects instead of supporting Haneul Technologies. Chanyeol was allowed to live as a human at the expense of his father's life, from what Kyungsoo had taken away from the entire situation.

With spiteful thoughts circling around his mind, Kyungsoo glared down at Chanyeol with disdain, gritting his teeth as the man slept in peace.

 

As Yixing completed the final procedures, he turned to Kyungsoo,  "Watch over him for me, he's vulnerable right now." He ordered, making his way to the door. "I just need to pick up Chanyeol's new storage device. If you see anything weird, just shout for me."

With that, the man left Kyungsoo, unknowingly putting the entire 'Sentience' project at risk. A smile crept on to Kyungsoo's lips as the door softly shut, leaving him with nothing but the hushed whirring sound of the machinery and the body of a defenceless robot.

 

Without a moment's hesitation, Kyungsoo inserted his USB flash drive into the main computer and transferred the 'GN.OME' process into Chanyeol's internal computer. In a matter of seconds, the status changed once again from 'Developer mode' to 'OFF', after which Kyungsoo ejected the flash drive and slid it into his pocket, one eye kept on the door.

 

Kyungsoo waited a couple of seconds to observe any visible changes in the data. When there was none, he let out a sigh of relief, and proceeded to inform Yixing that something was 'weird'.

"Yixing!" He called out, poking his head into the empty corridor. "Something's wrong!"

 

Seconds later, Yixing burst into the room, his attention immediately drawn to the new status on the screens. With his brows knitted in worry, Yixing accessed Chanyeol's internal computer through the main computer for the second time, hurriedly typing in commands and trying to diagnose the problem. Minutes went by with no signs of the situation changing, leaving the man in a state of mild irritation; Kyungsoo noted how calm Yixing was, chalking it up to years of experience.

 

"Sorry Kyungsoo, but you're going to have to leave." Yixing told the man apologetically, pursing his lips as he stole glances at the data,  "Mansik will be here in a minute and I don’t think that he'd want an intern in here."

 

Nodding in understanding, Kyungsoo said his farewells and left the room. As he entered the lift at the end of the corridor, a sense of satisfaction washed over him.

Chanyeol was a puppet in his hands.

 

 

 

\---

 

The moment he arrived at his house, Kyungsoo fired up his father's computer, which essentially belonged to him, and connected to the 'GN.OME' process invading Chanyeol's body. On the screen, an array of folders appeared, some titled with dates while the others were a random string of symbols: it was Chanyeol's database, all of which were memory files. After Kyungsoo typed in his first command, the 'GN.OME' process relayed information back to him, informing the man that Chanyeol had been blocked from accessing his own memories.

 

With his second command, 'GN.OME' started to continuously scan Chanyeol's entire system, showing the areas which Kyungsoo was unable to retrieve data from.

 

With his third command, 'GN.OME' began to synthesise an amalgamation of Chanyeol's memory files, manipulating and cutting them apart to create a bastardised form that would eventually become the embodiment of 'living hell' for Chanyeol. All that was left was for Kyungsoo to show it to him.

 

Donning his headset, Kyungsoo switched it on and adjusted the mic, letting it hover by his lips, "Hello Chanyeol. It's about that time that you woke up."

  
Lying was easy. Gaining trust was easy. Kyungsoo didn't consider himself to be a particularly manipulative person, even though his actions quite obviously betrayed him, but Chanyeol's gullibility almost made Kyungsoo feel bad for him. While he did have trouble accepting the situation and openly doubted Kyungsoo on numerous occasions, Chanyeol seemed to just take on board all the lies Kyungsoo threw at him.

 

However, despite his dishonesty, Kyungsoo _did_ tell the truth most of the time, albeit a different version of the truth.

 

"I'm still trying to figure my way around this simulation, but I think this gnome is a 'key' of sorts." Kyungsoo spoke through the mic, writing down a list of details he had told Chanyeol. "If my guess is correct, you should be moved into a higher level of the simulation."

 

Yixing had been correct in that there were glaring vulnerabilities in Chanyeol's system. For one, Kyungsoo was able to identify all the weaknesses with 'GN.OME' by coding literal gnomes into the so-called simulation, which virtually mapped out the entrances to the restricted areas that his second command showed him. Once Chanyeol - the administrator of his own system - interacted with the gnomes, Kyungsoo and the 'GN.OME' process were allowed entry into higher, more secure levels of the database.

 

On Kyungsoo's computer, the random strings of symbols changed into dates with each interaction, letting the 'GN.OME' process use the memory files within the unlocked folders for Kyungsoo's third command. His ultimate goal was to find any evidence whatsoever that he could use against Oh Mansik. Anything that would give him a reason as to why Haneul Technologies went bankrupt. Anything that would put Oh Mansik behind bars.

 

What Kyungsoo _didn't_ account for was Chanyeol being able to access the memory files used by 'GN.OME'. It infuriated him, but there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it, other than to try and convince him that Sehun was the one manipulating him. The guilt at that point hadn't caught up to Kyungsoo yet, but the more he conversed with Chanyeol, the more it weighed down on his mind.

Though annoying at times, Chanyeol's childish innocence sometimes made Kyungsoo feel like the devil.

 

But whenever Chanyeol spoke about Sehun, Kyungsoo felt like banging his head against the wall. What was so great about him?

From what Kyungsoo had seen in Chanyeol's memory files, Sehun used to absolutely despise him. Memories of the photo titled 'CY.0.0.1' came flooding back to Kyungsoo whenever he saw Sehun's cold sneer, realising that any small child would rightfully be afraid - or in Sehun's case, disgusted - of a humanoid robot. However, Sehun was more than just disgusted, he'd often blame Chanyeol for his father spending less time with him, which rubbed Kyungsoo the wrong way, regardless of the boy's immaturity.

 

As he quickly watched the files during the periods of Chanyeol's unconsciousness, Kyungsoo eventually found out why Sehun acted the way he did. He had seen the diagnosis, the ongoing struggles, and the intimate moments through Chanyeol's eyes. It made Kyungsoo feel like a stalker, watching in on someone else's life, inevitably leading him to avoid viewing anymore files tagged with [Sehun].

 

After several hours of guiding Chanyeol, Kyungsoo finally struck gold.

 

While Chanyeol explored the level coded '02', 'GN.OME' found the location of Chanyeol's internal storage and attempted to access it. Unfortunately for Kyungsoo, it triggered the security mechanism, sending out a signal through Chanyeol's dormant body in an effort to wake him up. As Kyungsoo checked Chanyeol's vitals, he noticed a spike in activity throughout the robot's framework.

 

"Not quite." Kyungsoo told Chanyeol, who had settled himself into the gnome mecha. "Sorry about this."

 

With his fourth command, 'GN.OME' hijacked Chanyeol's sensory processes, sending out waves of electrical signals through his framework to neutralise the existing signals transmitted by the internal storage's security mechanism. Unfortunately for Chanyeol, it meant an immense amount of pain.

 

Unable to bear hearing the screams, Kyungsoo positioned the headset to rest behind his ears, the hum of the muffled cries vibrating through his skull. Kyungsoo squinted his eyes shut, questioning what on Earth he was doing. It dawned on him that he actually felt guilty for harming a robot.

 

When the noise had died down, he readjusted his headset, "Then again, I don't expect you to forgive me." Kyungsoo muttered, uncaring of whether or not Chanyeol heard him. "You're just a robot after all."

 

In the hours that followed, Kyungsoo provided as many distractions as he could through the 'GN.OME' process, distorting even more of Chanyeol's memories in hopes of confusing the man for as long as possible. While Chanyeol was occupied, Kyungsoo worked on hacking and unlocking his internal storage, curious as to what resided within.

 

On his seventh attempt, Kyungsoo was successful; in the folder of Chanyeol's internal storage, a single file was stored with the title 'Demo', the owner of which was Kyungsoo's father. As he transferred the file to his storage and carefully began to watch the video's contents, an immense sorrow suddenly washed over Kyungsoo as his father's face came into view.

 

"I am Do Hojun, founder of Haneul Technologies. After years of being funded by GN Group, I proudly present-"

 

After realising what the purpose of the video was, Kyungsoo immediately paused it and returned to Chanyeol, who had been seeing more memories, according to the data from the 'GN.OME' process. Despite the number of times Kyungsoo had instructed him to discuss the memories, Chanyeol had grown increasingly reluctant to share what he had seen.  Not that it mattered anymore - Kyungsoo had found all that he needed.

 

Not wanting to leave any traces of his interference with Chanyeol's internal computer, Kyungsoo had attached a self-destruct program to the 'GN.OME' process in order to protect his identity; its purpose was to terminate the process and remove all memories of the simulation - and Kyungsoo - from Chanyeol's system.

Chanyeol only needed to interact with the fifth and final gnome to activate it.

 

"I don't. And I don't believe you either."  Chanyeol's voice ringed in Kyungsoo's ear, causing the blood in the man's veins to run cold. Kyungsoo wanted to scream at him, to tell him to stop being an ass, to stop ruining his plans. Fortunately, he refrained from doing so.

 

Each and every window relating to the 'GN.OME' process instantly closed, leaving Kyungsoo to chew on his lip as the message '[GN.OME process] detected' glared back at him.

" _Shit_." He muttered, throwing off his headset. After confirming that the USB drive was still in his pocket, Kyungsoo ran for the door, the panic bubbling in his chest.

 

\---

 

 

Fifteen minutes later, Kyungsoo had returned to the floor on which Chanyeol was kept. As he stepped out of the elevator, he heard two voices in the distance, resembling that of Yixing and Sehun's. Without another moment to lose, Kyungsoo made his way to Chanyeol's room, taking a deep breath as he opened the door.

 

On the granite floor, Chanyeol had sat cross-legged with a puzzled look on his face, "Who are you?" He asked, a hostile tone to his voice.

 

Not missing a beat, Kyungsoo answered with a smile, "Have you forgotten already? I'm Kyungsoo."

 

Upon hearing his name, Chanyeol's expression softened, although he still remained somewhat guarded, "Ah, my _hero_." He remarked, standing up to approach Kyungsoo.

 

After throwing a cursory glance at the empty corridor behind him, Kyungsoo shut the door and looked up at Chanyeol, who towered over him with a wide grin on his lips.  "You know, you're pretty tiny for someone who's meant to be saving my life," Chanyeol teased, rows of immaculate teeth showing as he smiled, leading Kyungsoo to envy him for never having to worry about dental hygiene.

 

"And you're pretty damn stupid for a robot." Kyungsoo mumbled under his breath, fishing the USB drive from his pocket.

 

"Excuse me, a what?" Chanyeol blinked in surprise.

 

Having figured out that Chanyeol's memories were still blocked, Kyungsoo's muscles loosened in relief, "Nothing. Just a joke."

 

While Chanyeol sat down on the platform, Kyungsoo inserted the USB drive into the main computer, after which he picked up a stray tube from the floor, motioning Chanyeol to give him his arm.

"What's going on?" He said, head slightly tilted in confusion and he stretched out his left arm. The guilt was starting to eat at Kyungsoo again, but he pushed it aside the moment he thrust the end of the tube into Chanyeol's skin. "Are you doubly sure that I'm not in Sehun's simulation? Because it honestly feels like I still am."

 

Kyungsoo shook his head, another lie on his tongue. "No. You're safe now. I'm just going to check your vitals, okay? Sehun might've inserted…nanobots into your blood."

 

"Oh. Okay." Chanyeol shrugged, an especially large smile still lingering on his face. Kyungsoo wished that he wouldn't smile so much, it was making him feel bad.

 

As the reservoir began to pump the red liquid into Chanyeol's artificial vessels, the status on the screens changed from 'ON' to 'OFF', followed by the sound of Chanyeol's body collapsing on the platform. While he hurriedly typed on the keyboard, Kyungsoo winced upon hearing the metal skull clatter on the loud surface, but he didn't have enough time to shift Chanyeol's position into a more comfortable one.

 

Kyungsoo eventually located the quarantined 'GN.OME' process and forcibly initiated its self-destruct program. In a matter of seconds, the process and the restriction on Chanyeol's memory files were no more. Once the job was finished, Kyungsoo pulled out the tube and left the room, not bothering to look back at the unconscious body.

 

After all, why should he feel pity for a robot?

 

\---

 

In the darkness of his room, with his father's computer providing the only source of light, Kyungsoo sat on his chair, legs pressed closely to his chest. His hand lingered on the mouse, the pads of his finger tips tapping on the left button as he stared blankly on the screen, neither hesitant nor certain of his final decision. A harsh blue light bathed the surface of his plywood desk, drying out Kyungsoo's eyes which were far too fixated on the monitor to blink.

 

The video titled 'Demo' bordered by a list of major social media platforms was the only image glaring back at Kyungsoo, the rectangular 'SEND' button at the bottom tempting him.

 

As the pointer hovered over the bold white words, the growing guilt gnawed at him again.

 

What would happen if he clicked?

What would happen to Sehun, who Kyungsoo found wasn't deserving of his hate, but his sympathy?

 

What would happen to Chanyeol?

 

Conflicting thoughts were all Kyungsoo associated with that name. Robots weren't humans, despite GN Group and its affiliates' adamance on sticking the 'sentient' label on them.  At the end of the day, any and all emotions invested on robots would be in vain - nothing more than just data, logged and filed away.

 

Avenging his father was far more important than some robot's artificial feelings.

Everything Kyungsoo had worked for was right there in front of him.

 

All he had to do was just…

 

_Click_.


	7. Case 7: A Flightless Bird in Search of Company

"I am Do Hojun, founder of Haneul Technologies. After years of being funded by GN Group, I proudly present you to CY.0.0.1, the project which my good friend Oh Mansik and I have been working on."

 

Slumped in the wicker chair beside the raised platform on which an unconscious Chanyeol lay - a complete mystery to Yixing - Sehun's mouth fell wide open as he saw the video titled 'Demo' playing on his news feed. A notification had appeared from all of the SNS applications on his phone, leading him to click it out of curiosity.

 

"CY.0.0.1, or Chanyeol, is the world's first sentient robot."

 

The audio blared around the room, piquing the interest of Yixing, who had been monitoring Chanyeol's system through the main computer in search for a reason as to how and why he had been randomly changing status. He immediately swerved his body to face the source of the sound, choosing to make his way over to Sehun.

 

"While our end goal is to have a public release, I will be transferring the entire project to OM Enterprises, as Haneul Technologies wishes to focus on other schemes."

 

The camera turned on itself, revealing the familiar robot with its titanium frame and unsettling bulging eyes. Memories of a bygone Christmas Day came back to Sehun, who merely laughed upon seeing Chanyeol's original form again.

 

"For now, Chanyeol has the important duty of being a certain little boy's companion," Hojun smiled at the camera, which had refocused on him after briefly displaying the cameraman, or rather, camera _bot_. "Merry Christmas Oh Sehun!"

 

Following a brief pause, the video left Sehun with nothing but a black screen. Behind him, Yixing bit the inside of his cheek out of nervousness, not because he had learnt anything new, but because 'Demo' had been a private file in Chanyeol's database. Connecting the dots, Yixing realised that the internal computer had been hacked.

 

 After a snippet of static, the video resumed. In the same white room, another figure appeared.

 

"Hojun, I asked the chairman for more funding." Mansik said in a sombre tone, sitting on a chair a metre away from the camera.

 

After a snort of laughter, Hojun shook his head, arms folded as he leant back in his seat, "Asked or bribed?"

 

"Don't be like that, I swear it won't affect anyone." Mansik tried to reason with him, perspiration lining his forehead.

 

"I handed Chanyeol to you out of pity. I gave you my company's resources _for free_ out of pity." Hojun retorted, rising from his chair as his voice grew louder, "Even then, you weren't satisfied. The chairman told me to practically hand my employees over to you the first time you 'asked' for more funding, and you have the audacity to say that it doesn't affect anyone?!"

 

With his hands to his head in frustration, Hojun paced across the small room as he continued to berate his partner. Mansik, who hadn't said another word, seemed to look straight at the camera in surprise, as if he had just noticed something. Abruptly rising from his chair, the man quickly moved closer to the lens, turning the video into a screen of reddish darkness.

 

The video stopped and Sehun could feel his heart sink. For a moment, the two men stood in silence, having yet to comprehend what they had just seen. On Sehun's phone, the comments section underneath the video erupted with accusations, speculations and calls for justice to be served.

 

On the other side of the room, the door clicked open, revealing Junmyeon, who wore a grave expression, "Judging from your dumbfounded looks, I'm guessing that you've seen the video." He said wryly, joining Yixing's side.

 

Nodding in response, Sehun slipped his phone back into his pocket, a frown on his lips, "So what does this mean exactly?" He asked, looking up at Junmyeon.

 

"It means that Do Hojun's suicide case is going to be re-opened." Yixing answered, exchanging looks with Junmyeon, who let out a frustrated sigh.

 

The sinking feeling in Sehun's chest hadn't been his imagination; his heart palpitated vigorously, the flesh beneath his skin suddenly turning cold.

 

Noticing the abrupt change in behaviour, Junmyeon pressed a hand against the younger man's cheek, and hastily warned Yixing of his drop in temperature. Their voices eventually became disjointed, a low hum resounding around Sehun.

 

With his vision blurring, Sehun collapsed into his seat, the rush of blood vibrating in his ears.

 

\---

 

When Sehun woke up in a familiar hospital bed, a corruption scandal involving GN Group and OME had rapidly unfolded, making waves in the public's perception of the artificial intelligence industry. Having branded themselves as a conglomerate solely focused on the progression of science and technology, the controversy only served to betray their words.

 

In the corner of his eye, Sehun could make out Minseok's figure, his scrubs the same navy colour as they always had been. On the wall opposite his bed, the television screen displayed the news, which Sehun resigned himself to watching. Morphine ran through Sehun's system as the anchorwoman outlined the details of the recent court appearances and press conferences, her voice lulling him into a listless state.

 

"The chairman of GN Group and the CEO of OM Enterprises have been arrested over allegations of bribery, the evidence for which has been found in the leaked video 'Demo'…"

 

While the woman spoke in her clear cut Seoul dialect, Minseok opened the curtains, allowing light into the dimmed room. Sehun squinted, the beams catching in his eyes.

 

"…Chairman Lee Sangchul admitted to accepting bribes from Oh Mansik, who had asked for more investments in his company's projects…"

 

With a tray of food in his hands, Jongdae entered the room, throwing an apathetic glance at the television before quietly placing Sehun's lunch on his overbed table. Leaning his head back into his pillow, Sehun felt an emptiness in his stomach that wasn't a mere hunger.

 

"…Following the incident, ex-employees of Haneul Technologies have spoken up, stating that Mr. Lee had informed investors of his decision to completely withdraw funding from the aforementioned business…"

 

Jongdae held the spoon up to Sehun's lips, which parted reluctantly. Exhaustion washed over Sehun's body, making even swallowing a chore, while he continued to watch the screen with undivided attention.

 

"…resulting in a drastic fall in the company's stocks, but failed to inform or support Do Hojun. As such, Mr. Lee and Mr. Oh have been accused of 'manipulative behaviour' and ethical misconduct…"

 

While Jongdae and Minseok chatted with hushed voices, Sehun shifted slightly in his bed, feeling somewhat uncomfortable that Chanyeol wasn't there. For the majority of his life, Chanyeol had always been by his side and ironically, despite Sehun's initial protests about having someone observe him 24/7, there was nothing more he wanted than to be in Chanyeol's company again. He was family, after all.

 

"…to quote Mr. Oh's closing statement, 'I did it for my son. I apologise for my wrongdoings, but I don't regret what I've done.' "

 

For the first time in years, Sehun could feel the presence of the wires in his right arm, threading through muscle and around his bones. They felt more constricting, heavier. More alien.

 

While the nurses spoke idly of their weekend plans, Sehun's eyes were fixed on his limb, conflicted thoughts running through his mind. As he stretched out his fingers, he realised someone lost their life just so he could move an arm. His father had always told him that he deserved it, he was different from other children.

 

Slipping a finger underneath the thickest wire, Sehun bit down on his lip. They didn't belong there. They were never his.

 

He tore it out, the pain blindingly sharp as he felt his flesh twisting in the wire's grip. As the shock sent his mind into a frenzy, two pairs of panicked hands grabbed him, urging him to stop.

But Sehun kept pulling at his wires until he could no longer feel them. Until he was free.

 

\---

 

 

With Oh Mansik in prison, leadership over OM Enterprises was transferred from the Korean branch to Changsha Institute, Yixing being the new CEO due to his extensive experience.

 

The person who leaked the video had never been found, despite Yixing having an inkling as to who it was. When Junmyeon brought up Do Kyungsoo as a suspect, Yixing immediately shot him down, stating, 'He's awful with technology. A smart boy, but absolutely terrible with computers."  At that, Junmyeon reasoned that Mansik did indeed hire Kyungsoo out of pity, not because of his supposedly outstanding qualifications.

 

Choosing to lay low for a while, the man in question spent the entirety of the scandal-ridden month focusing on his studies, occasionally dropping in at the OME building to confirm that he was, in fact, still a part of the workforce. Sometimes, a glance would be thrown Kyungsoo's way by Junmyeon as he walked down the corridor, though it lacked the suspicion or contempt Kyungsoo had expected. Instead, it hinted at regret with an underlying apology, one that had never truly been spoken by any of his colleagues. Not that it mattered anymore, Kyungsoo was going to leave in a month or so when his internship finished.

 

Two weeks after the start of the new year, the buzz of the festivities had died down, and Kyungsoo took delight in the peace and quiet that finally returned to the office. During the staff briefing earlier in the morning, which Kyungsoo had been informed of for once, an announcement was made by Junmyeon.

 

"I know that it's the new year and all of that, but _please_ , settle down." He said, his lip curled in irritation, "'Since 'Sentience' is no longer viable, OME will be picking up some of Haneul Technologies' abandoned schemes because…well, it should be obvious by now if you've been paying attention to current affairs."

 

For a brief moment, Junmyeon's eyes met Kyungsoo's, who had been quietly standing in the back, "Mr. Oh's first project has already been finished, and the second dismantled, so we can put all of this behind us. Let's work hard again this year, okay?" Junmyeon concluded his speech, breaking eye contact with the younger man to survey the group of workers idly talking amongst themselves.

 

As the crowd separated, Kyungsoo turned to leave, muttering a few greetings to his colleagues on his way back to his desk. Out of nowhere, a hand landed on his shoulder, causing Kyungsoo's heart to jump in his chest.

 

"Kyungsoo." Junmyeon said, pulling his hand back as the man in question swerved around, bowing his head at his superior, "Yixing wants to talk to you. Here." After passing him the phone, Junmyeon left without another word.

 

"Hello?" Kyungsoo spoke, a heated flush forming on his cheeks as apprehension churned in his stomach.

 

"Don't sound so nervous, Kyungsoo." Yixing laughed, his voice partially cracking through the speaker, "I wanted to offer you a new job."

 

Fiddling with the hem of his jacket, Kyungsoo's tense fingers relaxed upon hearing Yixing's news, "How do you feel about working as my secretary in Changsha?" He continued, pausing to allow Kyungsoo to think.

 

"Why?" Kyungsoo asked with incredulity, sceptical of the man's intentions; his tone was guarded, a mistake that he inwardly groaned at. He only needed to keep up appearances for a month, so as not to draw unwanted attention, but Kyungsoo was already letting the façade slip with one phone call. "I mean, why me of all people? There are others better qualified for the job."

 

"I know it was you Kyungsoo." Yixing replied, his response turning Kyungsoo's blood cold. "But I won't hold it against you for leaking the video. You're a good kid and I don't want to see you ending up in jail."

 

Sweat formed on Kyungsoo's palms as his throat tightened, unsure of what to say, "You haven't answered my question," He said, trying his best to maintain his composure.

 

"Hmm…do I need to have a proper reason?" Yixing said, the warmth in his voice stirring up the guilt in Kyungsoo again, "You're good company, how's that?"

 

"Some people might call that an abuse of power," Kyungsoo responded drily, slipping into an unoccupied room away from the curious glances of the other employees. "How do I know that you're not lying to me?"

 

"Not everyone is like you, Kyungsoo." Yixing chuckled, an unintentionally scathing remark that Kyungsoo supposed he deserved. "How about you just trial it for a bit? You can leave anytime you want, it's good work experience, after all."

 

"…Okay, if you put it that way." Kyungsoo finally accepted, already regretting his decision.

 

"Good! I'll email you the details. See you soon." Yixing chirped, the genuineness so clear in his tone that Kyungsoo's doubts of the man's credibility felt terribly misplaced, "And before I go, have you talked to Sehun lately?"

 

Letting out a breath of a laugh, Kyungsoo firmly replied, "No and I most likely never will."

 

"How mean." Yixing said disappointedly. "Sehun's had all of his tech implants removed, so his entire right arm is immobile now. The rest of him will follow one of these days."

 

"Are you guilt-tripping me?" Kyungsoo asked, eyebrows knitted. There was a reason he tried to avoid Sehun and Chanyeol; the pair had begun to bear resemblances to Kyungsoo, ones which he didn't want to be reminded of. "I've ruined his life, I know."

 

"Quite the opposite, actually." Yixing corrected him, "He wanted this to happen and he's happier because of it."

 

"That's-"

 

"You probably already know this, but Sehun doesn't have much longer to live." Yixing interrupted, "I don't know when or how his disease will claim him, and to be honest with you, it's not something I want to think about. All I want is for him to be happy, so…thank you."

 

When Kyungsoo didn't respond, Yixing continued, "Thank you for everything you've done, Kyungsoo. I look forward to working with you."

 

With a low beep, the phone call ended, leaving Kyungsoo in an abrupt silence. Bittersweet emotions washed over him as he opened the door, returning to the office which he had inconspicuously left. On Kyungsoo's desk, a solitary white envelope was placed beside his computer, the words 'To Do Kyungsoo' neatly written on the front.

 

After tearing open the envelope, a cheque for one hundred million won was stared back at Kyungsoo, along with a short note, reading 'Good luck at university, make your father proud!'. Speechless, Kyungsoo scanned his co-workers, all of whom had their heads down, busily typing away. Not wanting to make a fuss, Kyungsoo quickly sat down on his chair and resumed his work, unaware of the hidden smiles and hushed exchanges surrounding his cubicle.

 

The words 'make your father proud' lingered in Kyungsoo's thoughts for the rest of the day. The evenings that followed were spent deliberating over the meaning behind the message, wondering whether his father would've been proud of all that he had done. It stayed with him even as he boarded the plane to Changsha, leaving behind the familiar comfort of home in favour of the unknown.

 

For Kyungsoo, it was no longer a question of making his parents proud, but a question of whether or not he even deserved their praise anymore.

 

\---

 

In the months leading up to Sehun's twenty-first birthday, his life was a blur of operations and counselling sessions. Half of Sehun's time had been spent in Jongin's personal dance studio, where he danced in an effort to forget the numbness growing in his legs, while the other half involved travelling with Chanyeol around Asia, namely Japan, where Sehun would often tease his companion about his robotic cousins displayed at tech demonstrations. Unsurprisingly, Chanyeol fell in love with Akihabara, made particularly obvious by the endless streams of merchandise entering his suitcases.

 

For Chanyeol who no longer had to undergo any further upgrades, he continued his sole task of watching over Sehun. The database of memories he had amassed over the years grew each day, expanding his knowledge of the world ever more. Chanyeol didn't know when he'd suddenly have to stop recording, or when Sehun would simply be a collection of video files in his mind, but he tried not to think about.  Sehun was still there, and that's all that mattered.

 

On the evening of April 12, 2028, the floor of Sehun's lounge had been covered in party streamers and balloons, forming a sea of bright colours at the feet of six men and a machine. On the centre table, a store bought birthday cake was placed, seeing as how none of the attending guests had enough confidence to bake one; however, it didn't stop Baekhyun from gloating about how he had been the one to choose the design, which Sehun complimented.

 

"Happy Birthday!" They all cheered in unison as a single breath from Sehun blew out the candles, leaving trails of smoke to waft in the air.

 

While everyone chatted amongst themselves, Junmyeon joined Sehun's side after a long phone call, "Yixing's going to be here soon. He said he's going to be bringing his secretary as well."

 

"Who's his secretary?" Sehun asked, wiping the sliver of frosting from the corner of his lips. On the sofa, Jongin grumbled in frustration as Chanyeol beat him in another round of Mario Kart 12. With a smug grin on his face, Baekhyun off-handedly insulted Jongin's gaming skills, who in return bit back with equally snide remarks.

 

"Do Kyungsoo." Junmyeon answered, tutting at the supposedly grown men who were on the verge of initiating a brawl.

 

"Sounds familiar…" Sehun said, tapping his chin in thought. "Never heard of him."

 

"The name doesn't ring any bells? At all?" Junmyeon said, cocking an eyebrow. Behind him, Jongdae grabbed Baekhyun by the waist, pulling him back to stop the man from launching himself at Minseok, who had joined Jongin in his jeers.

 

With a shrug, Sehun replied dismissively, "Nope. Is he important or something?"

 

"Y-you…never mind." Junmyeon sighed, rubbing his temples as Sehun continued to eat his cake. "They should be here-"

 

Before he could finish, the doorbell rang, momentarily ending the discord between the guests. Sliding off his seat and away from a fuming Jongin, Chanyeol quickly made his way to the door, telling Junmyeon to sort Baekhyun out and calm Sehun, who had fallen into hysterics after witnessing the petty argument.

 

Upon opening the door, Chanyeol was greeted by Yixing's warm smile. "Hyung! You made it!"

After a brief hug and exchange about their days, Chanyeol finally noticed the stranger lingering in the doorway, his head lowered as if to avoid conversation, "Who's this?"

 

"Ah, this is Kyungsoo, my new secretary. He's the same age as Sehun." Yixing introduced Kyungsoo, who met his boss' eyes with a look of betrayal. "Don't be shy, Kyungsoo."

 

"I'm not." Kyungsoo muttered, stretching out his hand to shake Chanyeol's, all the while keeping his gaze elsewhere. "Nice to meet you, Chanyeol."

 

"Likewise." Chanyeol beamed, accepting the hand with enthusiasm. "Hey…you look kind of familiar. Did we go to the same school?"

 

"Err…no. You must've mistaken me for someone else." Kyungsoo said quickly, side-eyeing Yixing who had moved on to conversing with Junmyeon and Sehun.

 

"Oh really? I swear-"

 

"Kyungsoo! I forgot Sehun's present, can you fetch it from the car?" Yixing called out, eight pairs of eyes suddenly turning to his secretary. Withering under their looks, Kyungsoo nodded and hastily left the room, "Chanyeol, why don't you go with him?"

 

Before the man in question could protest, Chanyeol butted in with an eager grin, "Sure thing."

 

As he closed the door behind him, Kyungsoo threw one last pleading look at Yixing, who merely smiled, his expression bordering between unintentionally cunning and naturally innocent. Four months together and Kyungsoo was still uncertain of Yixing's true nature; it was to the point that, sometimes, he wondered if he was being played for leaking the video.

 

"So what did you get for Sehun?" Chanyeol asked, tilting his head to the side playfully while the pair walked down the hallway.

 

"Don't know. Yixing didn't tell me." Kyungsoo said, twiddling strands of his hair between his fingers. Beneath his feet, the carpeted floor seemed to go on for miles, the harsh yellow glow of the lights accentuating the dark shadows on Kyungsoo's face. Beside him, Chanyeol hadn't said another word in response, but simply looked at the shorter man with curiousity. "…Why are you staring at me?"

 

"I swear I've seen you before." He said, frowning in thought, "Hold on, I'm going to check my database…"

 

In a rush of adrenaline, Kyungsoo gripped Chanyeol's wrist, catching the latter by surprise, "Don’t. I lied. You _have_ seen me before."

 

"It was at school, wasn't it?" Chanyeol said, to which Kyungsoo nodded in remorse, "Why did you lie? Better yet, why did you tell me the truth?"

 

"I…don't want to lie anymore." Kyungsoo answered earnestly, finally maintaining eye contact with Chanyeol. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he deeply regretted not being able to say those words earlier, during the time when Chanyeol had known him properly. "I want to say sorry. I mean it. I really am sorry."

 

"Gosh, it's just a little lie!" Chanyeol laughed, patting Kyungsoo on the back. "You don't have to be so serious about it."

 

The doors to the lift slid open, the mirror on the opposite wall reflecting back the image of the duo. Frowning, Kyungsoo couldn't help but envy the height difference, feeling that the extra few inches Chanyeol had on him was completely unnecessary.

 

"Kyungsoo." Chanyeol said, the doors closing in front of him. "Do you know Do Hojun?"

 

"Yeah." Kyungsoo said nonchalantly, pressing the button for the ground floor. Following the scandal, his father's name was on the lips of almost every Korean, hence it was no surprise that he'd be a conversation piece.

 

"Of course you would," Chanyeol chuckled, "He's your father."

 

At his words, Kyungsoo's shoulders stiffened. Shocked, he slowly turned to meet Chanyeol's piercing gaze, "How did you know?" He said in a gravelly voice, tone bordering that of a threat.

 

With a mischievous smile, Chanyeol edged closer to Kyungsoo, who could feel the heat emanating from the former's inner machinery, "You're not the only one who can lie, Do Kyungsoo."

 

As the numbers on the screen ticked away, Kyungsoo moved away, a scowl on his face, "I don't know what you're talking about." The guilt and regret was soon replaced with hostility, the indirect apology for his actions spoken earlier suddenly feeling unwarranted.

 

Snorting with unconvinced laughter, Chanyeol gripped Kyungsoo's sweater, twisting the fabric between his fingers impishly, "Oh, don't you remember? You hacked into my mind, told me that Sehun was trying to kill me and messed up my memories." Chanyeol said, though it lacked the fury Kyungsoo had expected. If anything, it was quite wicked. "But after everything that's happened, I only pity you. I truly do."

 

Prying the hand off his shirt, Kyungsoo strode out of the lift, hastily followed by Chanyeol, "So what are you going to do?" Kyungsoo hissed, one eye on the surveillance camera fixed on the hallway. Violence would only work against Chanyeol, he thought. "Either the process is still in you, or you've somehow retained your memories of the simulation."

 

"Both. You're a genius for making 'GN.OME', I'll give you that, but it's not perfect." Chanyeol smirked, his condescension boiling Kyungsoo's blood. "Careless traces here and there can add up, Kyungsoo. The self-destruct program didn't work all that well, so I remembered everything. All of it."

 

" _So what are you going to do_?" Kyungsoo said through gritted teeth.

 

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Chanyeol said dismissively, taking Kyungsoo by surprise. "I know why you did it. Yixing seems to trust you, and Sehun's only danger is himself. You're not going to hurt anybody else, I can tell, so why should I do anything?"

 

"Because I'm pretty much the entire reason why Sehun is going to be completely paralysed!" Kyungsoo exclaimed, unable to comprehend how lightly Chanyeol was treating him.

 

"Pfft. You aren't and you never will be." Chanyeol shook his head, taking delight in Kyungsoo's perturbed demeanour. "But…there is one thing that I want _you_  to do."

 

"What is it?" Kyungsoo asked dubiously.

 

"Be my friend." Chanyeol grinned, his tone undeniably sincere. "It gets terribly lonely when Sehun's not around."

 

With raised eyebrows, Kyungsoo responded in disbelief, "Are you insane?"

 

"Nope. I like you! We have the same interests, so why don't we become friends?" Chanyeol beamed, radiating an overwhelming happiness. It was a complete change in attitude, but one that Kyungsoo had grown used to - a characteristic childish innocence.

 

"…Sure?" Kyungsoo said, finding it difficult to decline the offer.

 

When Chanyeol squeezed him in a hefty bear hug, raising his body off the floor effortlessly, it dawned on Kyungsoo that he had just been played by a robot. A tall, bumbling, albeit contradictorily intelligent, robot.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


End file.
